PLANTAR FIBROMATOSIS - A BENIGN AGGRESSIVE NEOPLASM WITH A CHARACTERISTIC APPEARANCE ON MR-IMAGES

PURPOSE: To define the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging characteristics of plantar fibromatosis. MATERIALS RND METHODS: Sixteen patients (19 feet) with proved plantar fibromatosis underwent pre-operative MR imag ing at 1.5 T. A control group of 19 people (24 feet) also underwent MR imaging. RESULTS: Twenty-seven lesions (mean size, 2.2 x 1.0 cm) were identified. All had infiltrative upper margins. Four (15%) of the 27 grew deep to the aponeurosis; 25 (92%) exhibited some signal intensity heterogeneity. All 27 of the lesions on T1-weighted conventional spin -echo (SE) images, seven (78%) of the nine on T2-weighted;ted conventi onal SE images, and 17 (94%) of the 18 on T2-weighted fast SE images w ere isointense to mininially hyperintense (to the signal intensity of adjacent muscle). Five (83%) of the six lesions on short inversion tim e inversion-recovery images were hyperintense. Enhancement was variabl e on contrast material-enhanced images; nine (60%) of the 15 lesions o n these images showed marked enhancement. CONCLUSION: Plantar fibromat osis is a benign but infiltrative neoplasm with a characteristic locat ion and appearance on MR images.