Intramuscular myxoma: clinical and surgical observation notes on eleven cases

Purpose Intramuscular myxoma (IM) is a benign, soft tissue neoplasm of mesenchymal origin. We report our experience with this tumour. Method This clinical study comprised 11 cases of IM that were operated on between March 2008 and June 2016. Tumour location and size, results of pre-operative radiological studies, preop-erative biopsies, pathology examinations, applied surgical method and post-operative complications were reported for all patients. Results In total, nine patients with 11 IMs with a mean age of 60.0 years were assessed. Mean follow-up was 39.2 months. Tumours were located in the right thigh (5 patients, 7 IM), left gluteal area (2 patients, 2 IM), right gluteal area (1 IM) and left thigh (1 IM) ranging from 2 × 1 cm to 10 × 17 cm Pre-operative radiological diagnoses were cystic lesion, abscess, bursitis, fibrosarcoma, fibroma, lipoma, malign mesenchymal tumour and IM. Pre-operative biopsy was performed for five cases. All tumours were removed via simple excision and were pathologically consistent with IM. No complication or recurrence was observed during the follow-up period. Conclusion IM is a relatively rare benign tumour, the pre-operative diagnosis of which using radiological and clinical methods is quite difficult, creating pre-operative diagnostic confusion. It is generally diagnosed by microscopic examination. Simple excision with a small margin of surrounding tissue is considered to be sufficient for its treatment.