Bone Tumor Diagnosis

Even though most of the human body bulk is composed of connective tissue, tumors of the connective tissue, including the musculoskeletal system, are rare. When they do occur, they are found most often in the limbs of the upper and lower extremities. Faced with a limb swelling, the surgeon had to determine if there was an underlying tumor of the soft tissue or of the bone. If bony, was it in or on the bone, was it benign or malignant, was it operable or not? If operable, what was the cell type? Usually, the only operative treatment was an amputation that could not be masked. The result was a mutilated, deformed, diminished person. Adding insult to injury, few if any lives were saved. Most bone sarcoma patients were dead in a year or less. Their lives may even have been shortened by undergoing surgery. The creation of the Registry of Bone Sarcoma and the subsequent investigations of many pathologists, radiologists, and surgeons started to lead to more precise bone tumor diagnosis and better treatment.