A musculoskeletal tumor is a abnormal growth of cells that form a tumor in any of the bones or joints of the body. They can spread to other nearby tissues or invade distant organs or other structures of the body.

They are tumors located in bones, tendons, ligaments, cartilage, or, which are formed by cells of bone, tendon, muscle, fatty, cartilaginous or ligamentous origin.

Symptoms of a bone tumor

The patient may have a painless, palpable lump in a bone. It can also cause pain if the tumor is larger and causes local compression of other nearby structures. Aggressive tumors can weaken the bone and can cause bone fractures, without relevant trauma or stress (pathological fracture).

Treatment of bone tumors

Benign tumors are usually treated by local resection. Malignant tumors are treated with resection of the tumor and nearby tissues, sometimes requiring extensive amputation and reconstruction with grafts or prostheses. The use of chemotherapy, radiotherapy or specific oncological treatment may also be necessary in the treatment of malignant tumors.

A tumor occurs when certain cells begin to grow uncontrollably. Said tumor can be benign or malignant.

A tumor will be malignant or cancerous when there are possibilities for it to develop and spread throughout the parts of the body, invading other structures or spreading to other organs. These cancer cells form in other tissue and grow very quickly until they reach the bone.

On the contrary, a benign tumor does not spread throughout the body, although it increases in size. They present a slow and local, non-aggressive growth.

A tumor consists of an abnormal growth of tissue, which can be benign or malignant. Instead, cancer will always be malignant, also presenting abnormal growth. 

Enchondroma is usually a benign tumor that originates in the gelatinous tissue of the bone. The cartilage that is most affected by this type of tumor is the one that lines the inside of the bones. The most common enchondromas are usually:

• Enchondroma in the femur.
• Enchondroma in the fingers.
• Enchondroma in the knee.
• Enchondroma in the shoulder.
• Enchondroma in the tibia.

Symptoms of an enchondroma

It does not usually present notable symptoms, although there are times when it can cause:

• Pain due to the fracture of a weakened bone.
• Growth or decrease of a specific bone that could be affected by this benign tumor.

In many cases, the symptoms are confusing or some appear that have not been mentioned previously. If a symptom appears that could be related to the bones, it would be advisable to see a traumatologist who specializes in bone tumors. If you live in Spain, you can contact our team of bone tumor traumatologists.

Because sometimes these types of tumors do not present any atypical symptoms, this tumor is usually detected through a routine check-up through an X-ray examination, or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). 

The treatment will be conditioned by several factors such as the patient's age, how advanced the tumor is or their opinion or preferences. In some cases, treatment may require surgery.

Osteosarcoma is a bone cancer that originates in bone cells. It usually occurs in long bones located in the legs and knees, or even in the arms. Most cases of osteosarcomas originate in young people.

Symptoms of Osteosarcoma

The most common symptoms that usually occur in this type of bone cancer are:

• Inflammation and pain in the bones.
• Swelling in the affected bone.
• Bone injuries for no reason.

Types of osteosarcoma

• Surface tumor: it is the least common type of osteosarcoma, since it is a rare variant, which originates in the soft tissues.
• Central tumor: this is the most common type of osteosarcoma.

Treatments for Osteosarcoma

Treatment for osteosarcoma will be different depending on the patient and their case, but most treatments usually consist of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Surgery will be used to remove the tumor and damaged parts. On the other hand, chemotherapy will be used for the treatment of osteosarcoma, being very common, since After surgery, it must be ensured that no cancer cells remain..

Finally, radiotherapy is destruction of cancer cells through x-rays. It is a method that is not usually used in all cases.

The essential bone cyst is a benign lesion appearing in a central metaphyseal position, which is diagnosed when a bone is broken without warning.

This cyst can be seen on x-rays that show the fracture of the bone and, in many cases, after the bone is fractured the cyst disappears.

Essential bone cyst treatment

Sometimes it is necessary to perform minimally invasive surgery to remove the cyst in its entirety.

Surgery for bone tumors is usually applied to the vast majority of them, although, however, bone tumor surgery is recommended when it is a malignant tumor that may affect the patient's quality of life.

Generally the non-painful benign tumors, so it is not necessary to operate them unless there is a risk of progression to a malignant tumor. In other cases, the intervention is performed to prevent a weakening or fracture of the bone, caused by unsightly superficial lumps that can compress other structures.

Everything will depend on the type of bone tumor that the patient has and the severity of the case, since with a benign tumor, as explained above, surgery is usually not necessary.

Hospitalization after removing a bone tumor

Typically, discharge occurs on the same day as surgery. However, if the benign tumor is deeper or requires a larger resection, overnight hospitalization is usually necessary.

In malignant tumors that require extensive resections or a more complex approach, the patient will require a longer hospitalization period.

The malignant tumors such as osteosarcoma They usually require a wide surgical resection associated with preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy.

Five-year survival is 70%. Whenever possible, attempts will be made to keep the limb unamputed, although sometimes amputation must be carried out due to the risk of relapse.

When metastasis exists, the prognosis worsens and treatment of the affected organs is usually necessary.

A bone graft consists of surgery to fill the spaces of a broken or defective bone, sometimes it is usually used to place a new bone.

This surgery is carried out by a bone graft specialist who usually takes bone tissue from the pelvis or from a bone close to the defective one. Sometimes bone tissue is collected from a donor bone or an artificial bone, to later carry out the reconstruction of the affected bone.

This procedure is usually carried out with the patient completely sedated by general anesthesia.

How long does a bone graft take to heal?

Recovery varies depending on the bone operated on and the size of the bone graft, between 3 weeks and 3 months (even more in some cases), and there are usually no complications when the graft solidifies.

However, smoking and nicotine should be avoided, as it can impair bone consolidation and delay recovery. You will also not be able to practice any sport for 6 months.