Clinico-morphological pattern and frequency of bone cancer.

OBJECTIVE The present study was done to find out the frequency of malignant tumors of bone and to categorize the prevalence of various histological types of osseous malignancies with respect to age, sex and site of origin. SETTING This study included consecutive cases of malignant bone tumors, which were diagnosed in the department of pathology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi during the period of three years (1995-1997). METHODS These tumors were initially evaluated on H & E stained section from paraffin embedded tissue blocks. Special stains and immunohistochemical analysis was performed whenever required. RESULTS A total of 169 malignant bone tumors were diagnosed during the study period. Metastatic tumors accounted for 28.4% of all malignant tumors of bone. Osteogenic sarcoma (27.2%) was the most frequent primary tumor of bone followed by Ewing's sarcoma (12.4%), Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (10.6%), Chondrosarcoma (8.3%), Plasma Cell Myeloma (8.3%) and other rare entities (4.8%) in order of frequency. CONCLUSION The most common malignant neoplasm diagnosed in osseous biopsies was metastatic tumors. Osteogenic sarcoma was the most frequent primary bone tumor in this series. The bone tumors were relatively more prevalent in males. The frequency of malignant bone tumor was relatively high as compared to developed countries.