A 50-year-old male came to our department with walking difficulties because of painful bilateral plantar nodules. Visual inspection revealed solid nodules with 4 cm in diameter bilaterally in the medial plantar regions (). About 15 years ago, the asymptomatic nodules were simultaneously noticed being the size of a grain of rice, although the growing nodules caused difficulties and pain with footwear. Additionally, he also had Dupuytren’s contracture in his right palm (). Conversely, Doppler auscultation revealed arteriosus vascular sound on the mass in the bilateral plantar.\nA plain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan revealed soft subcutaneous mass in the bilateral plantar with a dark signal on T1-weighted images, while a brighter signal than muscles on T2-weighted images (). In turn, MR angiography visualized symmetrical mass bilaterally as a high density area (). In contrast, MRI scan of his right palm showed a thick cord with a dark signal on both T1- and T2- weighted images (). To rule out the possibility of hemangioma, a biopsy was performed, resulting in the diagnosis that PF was strongly suspected.\nHe had neither family history of PF nor history of diabetes/epilepsy. He is a LGBT person and orchiectomy was performed 7 years ago. Instead of lost androgenic hormone, female hormone therapy had been prescribed with 1 mg of norgestrel and 0.1 mg of ethinyl estradiol per day.\nSince the patient wanted surgical treatment, operation under general anesthesia was performed (). Skin incision enabled the observation that the medial plantar neurovascular bundles were involved in the mass in the right foot. Therefore, it was necessary to dissect the medial plantar neurovascular bundles from the mass before excising the mass en bloc with a 1 cm safety margin. In contrast, there was no such finding in the left plantar. The primary wound closure was performed and suction drains were left. The patient was instructed to prevent the operation sites from bearing weight for 2 weeks. The skin wound healed uneventfully and he was released from the hospital 15 days after his operation. The final pathological diagnosis was PF. After 6 months, the patient is free of pain and is able to wear his shoes without any trouble ().
A 44-year-old man with no significant medical history presented with an 8-year history of painless plantar nodule of the right foot. In the previous 6 months the patient felt discomfort while walking. On examination, he had subcutaneous nodules on the medial aspect of the plantar surface of the right foot. There was no family history of similar nodules. The patient was not taking any medication and was otherwise healthy. Vital signs and laboratory tests were normal.\nAn ultrasound () of the plantar arch was made using 13–5 MHz array transducer and showed a hypoechoic and homogeneous nodule of the plantar fascia with increased color Doppler flow. MRI of the foot confirmed the ultrasound data, showing a hyperintense nodule on proton density images () which was hypointense on T1-weighted images (), at the distal part of the superficial medial plantar fascia. The lesion was intensely enhanced after injection of Gadolinium ().\nThe diagnosis of Ledderhose disease was suspected based on the clinical-radiographic data. However, because of the flow inside the lesion at color Doppler, a biopsy was performed to rule out malignancies. Histological examination () of the nodule demonstrated increased fibroblastic activity and a reduction of the collagen network. Our patient received conservative treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs, physiotherapy, and orthotic support with satisfactory evolution.