How are Bone Tumors Diagnosed?
As bone tumors are rare, a low index of suspicion for such a possibility is crucial. Whenever a patient has pain and/or swelling in the limbs that does not subside with the usual remedies and is not explained by any other obvious diagnosis, an imaging of the local part such as an x ray and/ or MRI as considered appropriate is asked for. These radiological investigations give a fair idea of whether or not there is a bone tumor, what part of the bone it is involving, how aggressive or slow growing it could be and many a times an idea of which exact variety of tumor this could be. This, when combined with the history and clinical examination, gives a working diagnosis. Often, the patient will be referred to an orthopedic oncologist at this stage.
The next and final step in the diagnosis is a biopsy. This involves removal of a small piece of tissue from the tumor, mostly by a hollow needle (called a core needle biopsy) or rarely through a small incision (called incisional biopsy). A core needle biopsy is usually done as an OPD procedure under local anesthesia. The outcome of biopsy is not seen in isolation, but as a part of the “diagnostic jigsaw” of bone tumors. It is important to see that all three parameters of this jigsaw fit together- I.e., the clinical, radiological and pathological parameters match with the diagnosis. This is why a it is not just the treatment but even the diagnosis of bone tumors that is multidisciplinary.