Solitary chondromas of the long bones of the hand (results in 18 cases treated with autoplastic bone grafts).

Eighteen cases are reported of solitary chondroma of the long bones of the hand treated by curettage and packing with autoplastic grafts of spongy bone. The preferred localisation was in the three ulnar rays and in the metaphyseal zones in the neighborhood of the growth cartilage. In the younger patients the site was more often in the diaphysis; in the older patients, almost exclusively meta-epiphyseal. The diagnosis is usually made fortuitously as a result of a pathological fracture (61 per cent of the cases investigated). The results, assessed at an average of two and a half years after operation, were consistently excellent. They demonstrate that, in practice, any variety of this condition can be successfully treated by this method.