Atypical neuroma of the lateral fifth metatarsal head.

Typically, neuromas are found between the second and third, the third and fourth, and the fourth and fifth metatarsal heads. Fourteen cases were reviewed in which neuromas or perineural fibrotic tissue was discovered lateral to the fifth metatarsal head. The neuromas were discovered when osteotomies were performed to locate or correct a deformity of the fifth metatarsal head. In these cases, the practitioners observed pain that was out of proportion to the clinical lesion present. This observation accompanied each patient's report of a chronic burning sensation on the fifth metatarsal head.