Bone Tumor

Tumors are characterized by uncontrolled growths of the cells of our body, according to this growth pattern we have tumors that can be benign or malignant. Not only that, tumors can appear in any area of the human body, even in the bones...

Not long ago our surgical team had the opportunity to perform the removal of a benign tumor lodged in the calcaneum bone of the patient, despite being benign is extracted by the high risk of fractures that can cause and bone graft is placed to fill that empty space, the surgery was a success and we learned more than one patient.

Bone tumors are due to the growth of abnormal cells in the bones.

Bone tumors may be cancerous (malignant) or noncancerous (benign) and may develop inside the bone itself or spread to it from another part of the body.

Tumors can cause unexplained, progressively worsening bone pain, swelling, or a tendency for fractures to occur easily.

Diagnosis is sometimes based on the results of imaging tests (such as an x-ray, CT scan, or MRI) but often requires the removal of a sample of tissue from the tumor or bone for examination under a microscope (biopsy).

Bone tumors may be non-cancerous or cancerous. A cancerous tumor may spread to other areas of the body. In addition, bone tumors may be primary or metastatic. Primary tumors originate in the bone itself and may be non-cancerous or cancerous. Metastatic tumors are cancerous tumors that originate elsewhere in the body (for example, in the breast or prostate) and then spread to the bone. In children, most cancerous bone tumors are primary. In adults, most cancerous bone tumors are metastatic. In general, noncancerous bone tumors are relatively common, but primary cancerous bone tumors are rare: they affect about 2500 people each year in the United States. This figure excludes multiple myeloma, a cancer that mainly affects the bone marrow within the bone rather than hard bone tissue.

Sometimes a person has a painless lump in a bone that eventually becomes painful, but the first symptom is usually bone pain. The pain may be severe (similar to toothache), may occur at rest or at night, and tends to get progressively worse. Sometimes a tumor, especially if it is cancerous, weakens a bone, causing it to fracture with little or no stress (pathological fracture).

Diagnosis

A joint or limb with persistent pain should be x-rayed. However, x-rays tend to show only that there is an alteration that suggests atypical growth or that there is a cavity in the bone, and often do not indicate whether a tumor is noncancerous or cancerous. However, some tumors can be identified as benign by x-ray. For example, this identification is often possible in Paget's disease of the bone, enchondromas, bone cysts, non-ossifying fibromas (fibrous proliferations without bone tissue), and fibrous dysplasia. If an x-ray is inconclusive, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) often help to determine the exact location and size of the tumor and provide additional information regarding its nature, although these tests usually do not provide a specific diagnosis.

If a cancer is suspected or if its existence is a reasonable possibility, a biopsy is usually necessary for diagnosis. In many tumors, a sample is taken by inserting a needle into them and removing some cells (aspiration biopsy); however, since the needle used is very small, sometimes only normal cells and no cancerous cells are taken in the sample, even though the cancerous cells are located just next to the normal ones. A biopsy with a larger needle (coarse needle biopsy) is often necessary to examine more tissue. Sometimes a surgical technique called open biopsy, which is done at the same time as surgery to treat the tumor, is needed to obtain an adequate sample for diagnosis.

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