Osteoid osteoma recurrence: a case report

Recurrence of an osteoid osteoma treated by complete excision is thought to be very rare. Persistence of the lesion and reappearance of clinical and r adiological signs have a more frequent occurrence, and are due to inadequat e resection. Our case appears to be a true recurrence. It required no less than four operations first of these was probably not extensive enough. The second consisted of curettage of the osteoid osteoma after it had been expo sed by abrasion of its cortical bone covering. The third and fourth resecti ons were carried out under bone scan guidance and were controlled by postop erative radiography and computerised tomography. The uncertain aetiology of osteoid osteoma is one factor in the mysteriousn ess of this serial recurrence of what was apparently an ordinary osteoid os teoma. Such recurrence might be explained by an unknown persisting patholog ical environment.