Liu P, Zhang K, Zeng JK, Chang YF, Zhuang KP, Zhou SH. Clinical, radiologic, and pathologic study of intraosseous lipoma of the tibia: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2025; 13(14): 101950 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v13.i14.101950]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Sheng-Hu Zhou, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Joint Surgery, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, No. 333 South Binhe Road, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China. zhoushengh2022@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Peng Liu, Kai Zhang, Jian-Kang Zeng, Yan-Feng Chang, Kai-Peng Zhuang, Sheng-Hu Zhou, Department of Joint Surgery, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China
Author contributions: Liu P participated in writing the manuscript; Zhang K performed the data collection; Zeng JK performed the radiologic imaging analysis; Chang YF performed the pathological feature analysis; Zhuang KP participated in following the patient; Zhou SH helped examine and correct the manuscript; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the Lanzhou Science and Technology Plan, No. 2023-2-11; Lanzhou Talent Innovation and Entrepreneurship Project, No. 2023-2-28; Gansu University of Chinese Medicine Tutor Special Project, No. 2023YXKY015; and Research Fund Project of 940th Hospital, No. 2023YXKY014 and No. 2023YXKY036.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Sheng-Hu Zhou, PhD, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Joint Surgery, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, No. 333 South Binhe Road, Lanzhou 730050, Gansu Province, China. zhoushengh2022@163.com
Received: October 2, 2024 Revised: December 7, 2024 Accepted: January 2, 2025 Published online: May 16, 2025 Processing time: 104 Days and 15.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Intraosseous lipoma of bone is one of the rarest benign bone tumors, which often involves the metaphysis of long tubular bones, especially the femur, tibia, fibula, and calcaneus. Bone lipoma can be characterized by chronic dull pain but can also be asymptomatic most of the time. As a result, it is less likely to attract people’s attention and is occasionally diagnosed through imaging examination during routine physical health check-up.
CASE SUMMARY
We describe a clinical case of intraosseous lipoma in a 21-year-old patient with chronic pain in the left lower limb for four years without any significant physical findings apart from the minimal swelling and local tenderness over the median ankle. Computerized tomography suggested the possibility of a lipoma on the left distal tibia, but the pathological examination could make a definite diagnosis. The intraosseous lipoma of the left distal tibia was treated by surgical curettage, bone graft, and internal fixation with steel plate, since the conservative treatment is often ineffective. Postoperatively, the patient made an uneventful recovery and was able to do daily activities without any restrictions. In addition, local recurrence of the intraosseous lipoma was not reported in subsequent reexamination.
CONCLUSION
Bone lipoma is very rare and often exhibits no characteristic clinical manifestation. The confirmative diagnosis of lipoma largely relies on a combination of imageology and biopsy. Surgical intervention is often recommended as a conventional therapy for bone lipoma. Postoperatively, the patient makes an uneventful recovery with a good prognosis, and the local recurrence of the tumor is also a low probability event.
Core Tip: Bone lipoma is very rare and often exhibits no characteristic clinical manifestation. The confirmative diagnosis of lipoma largely relies on a combination of imageology and biopsy. Surgical intervention is a recommended conventional therapy for bone lipoma. In the present case, the patient made an uneventful postoperative recovery with a good prognosis, and no local recurrence of the tumor was observed.
