A Rare Hand Pain Cause, Schwannoma with Median Nerve Localisation

Abstract

Schwannoma is a firm, properly limited, encapsulated, and slow-growing benign tumor of nerve sheaths. It can be seen at all ages, most commonly between the ages of 20 and 50 years and the ratio of female to male is 2:1. It is most commonly seen in the head and neck, but 20% of Schwannomas arise from the peripheral nerves. Peripheral nerve Schwannomas can easily be misdiagnosed as nerve entrapment syndromes because their symptoms overlap most of the times. Symptoms occur by pressing on the mass or on the surrounding tissues. There is no medical treatment of Schwannomas, but the treatment is total excision of the mass. In this case report, a 64-year-old male patient with a Schwannoma of the median nerve in the left forearm, who was misdiagnosed and misoperated as carpal tunnel syndrome, is reported.

Keywords

• schwannoma
• median nerve
• pain