Multifocal Unicameral Bone Cysts in a Middle-Aged Patient Treated with Three Different Methods: A Rare Case Report

Primarily diagnosed in the first two decades of life, unicameral bone cysts (UBCs) are benign cystic lesions of the bone. More than 90% of UBCs are located in the proximal femur or proximal humerus of skeletally immature patients, however in this case report we report a middle-aged patient with multiple lesions in unusual sites.

A 42-year-old patient presented to our institute with multiple bony lesions in the right and left tibias, proximal radius, ulna, and the second metacarpus. The lesions were later pathologically proven to be UBCs. A multimodality treatment approach was selected  including  decompression-only,  extended  curettage,  bone  grafting,  and  prophylactic  fixation  based  on  the  lesion  size and anatomic location. All these methods proved to be effective with no disease relapse and complete radiographic obliteration of the  cavities.

UBCs could occur in much older patients than generally believed and the proper method of treatment should be individualized based on the lesion’s characteristics.