SUBEPINEURAL HYPERPLASTIC PACINIAN CORPUSCLE - AN UNUSUAL CAUSE OF DIGITAL PAIN

Although a wide variety of tumors may occur in the hand, only a small proportion of these are painful. Hyperplasia of a pacinian corpuscle is a rarely seen but extremely painful tumor. Pacinian corpuscles were first observed in 1741 by Vater, who found them attached to the digital nerves, but their existence was forgotten until a hundred years later when they were rediscovered and described by Pacini (1835-1840).2,3 Pacinian corpuscles, end-organ receptors for deep touch, are found in abundance on the palmar aspect of the hand and the plantar aspect of the foot.4 Differentiation of these corpuscles has been described with a number of different terms: Pacinoma,1 pacinian neuroma? pacinian neurofibroma,6 pacinian corpuscle neuroma,7 and pacinian hyperplasia.4 To the best of our knowledge, only 20 cases of such tumors of the hand have been described.4-20 We report a case of subepineural hyperplasia of a pacinian corpuscle causing severe finger pain. © 1993 American Society of Plastic Surgeons.