Benign skeletal tumors in children: causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment

ICD 10 code

D16 Benign neoplasms of bone and articular cartilage.

Epidemiology

True benign bone tumors are rare skeletal lesions in childhood, accounting for less than 1% of all tumors.

Symptoms of benign skeletal tumors in children

The initial symptoms of benign skeletal tumors in children - pain syndrome of varying severity and lameness - are not very specific. Given the low oncological alertness of outpatient specialists, they are often regarded as "growing pains" or the result of a musculoskeletal injury. The consequence of this is late diagnosis of the tumor and often the prescription of contraindicated thermal procedures and physiotherapy to patients.

Diagnosis of benign skeletal tumors in children

The detection of benign skeletal tumors is based on clinical examination data and radiation diagnostic methods: X-ray, and, if indicated, CT and scintigraphy.

Among benign bone tumors in childhood, benign bone-forming and cartilage-forming neoplasms are most often observed. According to the International Histological Classification adopted by WHO in 1993, benign bone-forming tumors include osteoma, osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma, and benign cartilage-forming tumors include enchondroma, periosteal (juxtacortical) chondroma, solitary and multiple osteochondral exostoses (osteochondromas), chondroblastoma and chondromyxoid fibroma. At the same time, domestic authors consider solitary and multiple osteochondral exostoses as a dysplastic process bordering on a tumor. The separately presented giant cell tumor (osteoclastoma) is detected extremely rarely in the first two decades of life.

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