Painful hyperplasia and hypertrophy of pacinian corpuscles in the hand: report of two cases with immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies, and a review of the literature.

Hypertrophy and hyperplasia of pacinian corpuscles in the hand are very rare, with only 29 cases previously published. We describe two new cases in middle-aged patients whose chief complaint was progressive digital pain. Immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopic investigations indicated that the lump replicates the structure of enlarged pacinian corpuscles and should not be considered as a real tumor, nor connected to neurofibromatosis. No recurrence was observed after surgical excision. Although local trauma was encountered in 55% of the reported cases, the pathogenesis of such a lesion is still speculative.