Bone tumour diagnosis; a comparison of roentgenography and histopathology in the diagnosis of bone tumours: a study at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi

Abstract

Bone tumours can either be primary or secondary. The secondary bone tumors are malignant deposits from other tissues. Primary bone tumours are either benign or malignant. This study was done to determine what percentage of bone tumour diagnosis made from radiographs agreed with the histopathological diagnosis. This study also assessed the usefulness of the various discriminators used in analysing bone tumours on x-ray. A group of patients whose radiographs and histopathological reports that were available were used in this study. Radiographs of the affected bone(s) were reported by me and reviewed with my supervisor who is a consultant radiologist. This study was retrospective and covered patients whose radiographs and histopathology reports were available and they had been presumed to have bone tumours. 78 cases were analysed in this study. 42 cases were found to be malignant on both radiology and histology. 10 cases were found to be benign on both radiology and histology. 23 (54.8%) of the malignant lesions had the same specific diagnosis on radiology and histology. 3 (30%) cases of the malignant lesions had the same specific diagnosis on both radiology and histology. It is recommended therefore that greater cooperation between the clinician, the radiologist and the pathologist is required in establishing the correct diagnosis.