Conventional Cartilaginous Tumors: Evaluation and Treatment

A Masquerading Hematoma Resulting in the Delayed Diagnosis of a Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Case Report

A 27-year-old male with insidious right arm swelling was diagnosed with a hematoma secondary to a partial biceps tear, later identified as a rhabdomyosarcoma. Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) may present with misleading patient histories and nonspecific symptoms, resulting in misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. One of the classic masqueraders of soft tissue sarcomas is hematomas secondary to trauma. Obtaining a prudent history with careful scrutiny of appropriate imaging often helps establish the correct diagnosis. Ultimately, tissue biopsy can resolve any ambiguous cases and prevent delays in diagnosis and treatment.

Malignant Bone and Soft Tissue Lesions of the Foot

Malignant tumors of the foot are rare pathologies that can involve the skin, soft tissue, or bone. Due to their rarity, they are often misdiagnosed, resulting in inadequate excision and poor outcomes. A correct approach with a careful examination and radiological study, followed by a properly performed biopsy, is thus mandatory to avoid these pitfalls. The present article reviews the most common malignant bone and soft tissue lesions of the foot region, discussing their clinicopathological presentation, imaging features, and current concepts in treatment.

Premalignant Conditions of Bone

Development of malignancy is a multifactorial process, and there are multitude of conditions of bone that may predispose patients to malignancy. Etiologies of malignancy include benign osseous conditions, genetic predisposition, and extrinsic conditions. New-onset pain or growth in a previously stable lesion is that should concern for malignant change and should prompt a diagnostic workup for malignancy.

Der atypische chondrogene Tumor

Hintergrund

Atypische chondrogene Tumoren (ACT) der kurzen und langen Röhrenknochen, früher als Chondrosarkome G1 bezeichnet, verhalten sich lokal aggressiv, haben aber ein sehr geringes Metastasierungspotenzial. Die Abgrenzung zu benignen Enchondromen ist aus klinischer, radiologischer und histopathologischer Sicht komplex.

Ziel der Arbeit

Epidemiologie, Diagnostik und Therapie von ACT unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Abgrenzung zu Enchondromen werden dargestellt.

Material und Methoden

Es erfolgt die Zusammenfassung der internationalen Fachliteratur zu ACT und Enchondromen.

Ergebnisse

Die Inzidenz von Enchondromen, und mehr noch von ACT, ist über die Jahre angestiegen, was auf häufiger werdende Diagnostik hinweist. Im Gegensatz zu Enchondromen können ACT mit Schmerzen verbunden sein und radiologische Zeichen aggressiven Wachstums, wie tiefes endosteales Scalloping, aufweisen. Die alleinige Biopsie zur Differenzierung zwischen Enchondromen und ACT ist oft nicht hilfreich, da aufgrund der punktuellen Probegewebsentnahme ein „sampling error“ resultieren kann. Die definitive operative Therapie von ACT der langen und kurzen Röhrenknochen hat sich über die letzten Jahre gewandelt, weg von einer radikalen Tumorentfernung hin zu intraläsionaler Kürettage. Ein Zuwarten ist bei radiologischem Verdacht auf das Vorliegen eines Enchondroms regelmäßigen Verlaufskontrollen mittels Magnetresonanztomographie (MRT) möglich.

Schlussfolgerungen

ACT weisen im Gegensatz zu Enchondromen radiologische Zeichen eines aggressiven Wachstums auf. Die heutzutage bevorzugte Therapie besteht aus einer intraläsionalen Kürettage. Sowohl Diagnostik als auch Therapie und Nachsorge von kartilaginären Tumoren sollten an einem spezialisierten Tumorzentrum erfolgen.

Atypical Cartilaginous Tumors: Trends in Management

INTRODUCTION

Chondrosarcomas are the most common primary bone malignancy in adults within the United States. Low-grade chondrosarcomas of the long bones, now referred to as atypical cartilaginous tumors (ACTs), have undergone considerable changes in recommended management over the past 20 years, although controversy remains. Diagnostic needle biopsy is recommended only in ambiguous lesions that cannot be clinically diagnosed with a multidisciplinary team. Local excision is preferred due to better functional and equivalent oncologic outcomes. We sought to determine whether these changes are reflected in reported management of ACTs.

METHODS

The National Cancer Database (NCDB) 2004 to 2016 was queried for ACTs of the long bones. Reported patient demographics and tumor clinicopathologic findings were extracted and compared between patients who underwent local excision versus wide resection.

RESULTS

We identified 1174 ACT patients in the NCDB. Of these, 586 underwent local excision and 588 underwent wide resection. No significant differences were found in patient demographics. No significant change was found in the reported percentage of diagnostic biopsies or wide resections performed over time. After multivariate regression, the single greatest predictor of performing wide resection on an ACTs was presenting tumor size.

DISCUSSION

Evaluation of the NCDB demonstrated that despite changes in the recommended management of ACTs, there has not been a significant change in surgical treatment over time. Surgeons have been performing diagnostic biopsies and wide resections at similar to historical rates. Persistency of these practices may be due to presenting tumor size, complex anatomic location, uncertainty of underlying tumor grade, or patient choice as part of clinical shared decision making. The authors anticipate that the rate of biopsies and wide resections performed will decrease over time as a result of improvements in advanced imaging and the implementation of recently updated clinical practice guidelines.