Distal phalanx desmoplastic fibroma of the hallux: a unique case mimicking a glomus tumor
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Desmoplastic fibroma is a rare, benign bone tumor that exhibits locally aggressive behavior and typically occurs in the mandible and long bones. Its presence in small bones, particularly in the hallux, is exceedingly rare. Desmoplastic fibroma's unusual presentation in this region often mimics other lesions, such as glomus tumors, and poses significant diagnostic challenges. CASE PRESENTATION: We present the case of a 38-year-old female with a history of trauma to the affected toe and thyroid cancer, who experienced persistent subungual pain, localized tenderness, and cold hypersensitivity in the hallux. Initial imaging (X-ray and MRI) revealed findings consistent with a glomus tumor, including bone erosion in the distal phalanx. Surgical excision with wide margins was performed due to the patient's cancer history, and histopathology unexpectedly identified the lesion as desmoplastic fibroma. The patient underwent regular follow-up with X-rays over two years, showing complete healing and no recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: The case emphasizes the necessity of sending excised specimens for pathological analysis to confirm the diagnosis. Documenting such atypical presentations contributes valuable information to the limited literature on desmoplastic fibroma and aids clinicians in recognizing this rare tumor in unusual locations, potentially improving diagnostic accuracy and management.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".