Digestive obstruction: An unusual complication of hereditary multiple exostoses

Hereditary multiple exostoses is an autosomal dominant bone disorder characterized by multiple cartilaginous tumors growing outward from metaphyses of long bones. These tumors are usually located in long bones of the limbs. Exostosis also called osteochondroma can cause many complications, the most serious being malignant transformation as chondrosarcoma. We report a rare phenotype of this disease in a young male patient who presents digestive symptoms caused by a voluminous degenerated lumbar exostosis with anterior abdominal development. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.