Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Education and training, Education, MR, CT, Conventional radiography, Musculoskeletal bone, Bones, Anatomy
Authors:
A. N. Pérez Pérez1, A. P. Marrero González2, J. R. Ortiz-Cruz1, J. Lugo-Rosado2, E. Trullenque1, J. Vidal1; 1San Juan, PR/US, 2San Juan, Puerto Rico/US
DOI:
10.1594/ecr2018/C-2377
Background
Accessory ossicles are unfused secondary ossification centers,
separate from the adjacent bone.
Unlike sesamoid bones,
which function as friction reducers to protect tendons from injury,
accessory ossicles are thought to be supernumerary bones without definite function.
Most accessory ossicles are congenital,
anatomical variants,
but some rarely arise as a result from trauma or local degenerative disease.
Symptomatic presentations are rare and thus a search for underlying pathology should be performed in these cases.
Normally,
however,
accessory ossicles are typically clinically insignificant and found incidentally.
Nonetheless,
these osseous structures may sometimes may sometimes be incorrectly diagnosed as fractures,
loose bodies or other infectious processes,
leading to unnecessary workup and management.