Bone & Soft Tissue Tumours Flashcards
What are the important clinical features of bone tumours?
1) Pain
2) Deep seated mass
3) Swelling
4) Loss of function
5) Pathological fracture
What are the important clinical features of soft tissue tumours?
1) Painless
2) Mass is found deep to deep fascia
3) The mass is >5cm
4) A fixed or hard mass
5) Tumours shown up on MRI
What are the key features of malignant bone tumours which differentiate them from benign bone tumours?
- Increasing pain
- Unexplained pain
- Deep-seated boring nature
- Night pain
- Difficulty weight-bearing
- Deep swelling
What investigations are carried out in bone and soft tissue tumours and what are the most likely findings?
1) Plain radiographs - for bone lesions and calcification
2) CT - assessing ossification and calcification
3) Isotope bone scans - staging skeletal metastasis
4) MRI - modality of choice in bone tumours
How are aggressive and inactive tumours differentiated on plain radiographs?
Inactive:
- Clear margins surrounding rim of the reactive bone
Aggressive:
- Poorly defined zone of transition between lesion and normal bone
- Cortical destruction = malignancy
- Onion-skin appearance
What are sarcomas?
Malignant tumours arising from connective tissue
How do sacromas usually spread throughout the body and to which area of the body do they usually metastasise to?
Blood
Lungs
How common are primary benign tumours of the bone compared to primary malignant tumours?
Benign bone tumours much more common than malignant bone tumours
Which are more common: primary malignant bone tumours or secondary malignant bone tumours?
Secondary malignant tumours
What is the most common malignant ‘bone-forming’ tumour?
Osteosarcoma
What is the most common malignant ‘cartilage-forming’ tumour?
Chondrosarcoma
What is the most common malignant tumour of fibrous tissue?
Fibrosarcoma
With which term are cartilage-forming tumours associated?
Chondro
What are the most common malignant tumours of bone marrow?
1 - Ewings sarcoma
2 - Lymphoma
3 - Myeloma
What is the most common vascular tissue primary tumour?
Angiosarcoma