Spectrum of tumour and tumour-like lesions of bone in a Tertiary Care Hospital in North Karnataka, India

The wide spectrum of bone tumours, their diverse origin and the tendency of these tumors to produce overlapping anatomic patterns, make osseous neoplasms a complicated but highly challenging area from the point of view of morphological diagnosis. Objectives: To know the pattern of tumour and tumour-like lesions of bone including their incidence, age, sex and anatomical distribution, histo-morphological features in a tertiary care hospital of South India.

Biopsies and specimens received at the department of Pathology, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubli from July 2006 to June 2011 (5 year period) are included in the study.

A total of 115 cases were included in the study of which 104 (90.4%) were tumors of bone and 11 (9.6%) were tumor-like lesions. Primary bone tumors were seen in 101 (97.1%) cases and secondary tumors were seen in 3 cases (2.9%).

Out of all lesions studied, malignant bone tumours were 31 (26.9%), benign bone tumours 71 (61.73%) and tumour like lesions 13 (11.3%).

Osteochondroma (50.7%) was most common benign tumor followed by osteoclastoma (40.8%). Osteosarcoma was commonest malignant tumor (58%) followed by Ewing's sarcoma (16.2%). There were 3 cases of secondary tumors-one of renal cell carcinoma and the other two were adenocarcinomas of unknown primary.

This study showed that benign tumours accounted for most of the primary bone tumours. Osteochondroma and osteosarcoma are the most common benign and primary malignant bone tumors, respectively.