The Patient with a Tumor or a Tumor-Like Lesion of Bone

A tumor is a space-occupying lesion that is typically detected on radiographs. It may be neoplastic or nonneoplastic. The nonneoplastic tumor is also referred to as a tumor-like lesion. The group of tumor-like lesions is very heterogeneous and contains normal variants, dysplasias, osteomyelitis, posttraumatic changes, and so on. The tumor or tumor-like lesion may be detected easily, with difficulty, or even not at all, depending on the quality of radiographic examination, level of suspicion, location, presence of radiographically detectable tumor matrix (such as ossification or calcification), amount of cancellous and/or cortical bone destroyed, and other host reactions, such as reactive bone formation and periosteal reaction. Tumors are rare. Therefore, diagnosis is challenging and requires a systematic as well as a multidisciplinary approach. It is a well-accepted axiom that the center of this approach is the collaboration between the pathologist, orthopedic surgeon, and radiologist. This ensures that all available information is used when diagnosing and treating these rare conditions.