Standards for osteosarcoma examination

I believe everyone is familiar with malignant cancer, and osteosarcoma is one of the common primary malignant cancers. According to a survey, about 20% of osteosarcoma cases have already metastasized to the lungs when diagnosed. Therefore, early diagnosis is very important for the treatment and prognosis of osteosarcoma. So, what are the standards for osteosarcoma examination? Let's learn about it together.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a primary malignant bone tumor originating from mesenchymal tissue, and its incidence ranks second among primary bone tumors. The most common age is 10 to 25 years old, and males are slightly more likely to be diagnosed than females. Its most common sites are the epiphyses of long bones, with the distal femur and proximal tibia being the most common. Osteosarcoma is highly malignant, prone to early lung metastasis, and has a poor prognosis. This article briefly describes the clinical characteristics and diagnostic methods of osteosarcoma.

1. X-ray examination (the most important imaging examination method): lateral osteolysis or osteogenesis, or both changes in the epiphyseal ends of long bones, with different shapes and unclear shapes; destruction of cortical bone and tumor bone formation; periosteal reaction: Codman triangle, "sunlight radiation", etc.; chest X-ray: helps to detect lung metastasis at an early stage.

2. CT: It can show the bone destruction and the degree of ossification inside the tumor. After enhancement, it can also show the blood supply of the tumor, the relationship between the tumor and adjacent blood vessels, and the range in the bone and soft tissue.

3. MRI: It has clear display of soft tissues and is of great significance in the evaluation of the effect of preoperative chemotherapy. It can show the extent of tumor invasion in soft tissues, the extent of tumor invasion in the bone marrow cavity, and the detection of skip lesions.

4.DSA: provides a reference for identifying tumor blood supply and performing interventional treatment.

5.ECT, PET-CT: They can determine the size of the tumor and metastatic lesions. If conditions permit, PET-CT can be considered for auxiliary tumor staging, disease diagnosis and efficacy evaluation.

The standard diagnostic steps for all patients suspected of osteosarcoma should include: clinical manifestations, physical examination, laboratory tests (blood routine, alkaline phosphatase, etc.), imaging examination of the primary lesion (X-ray, MRI and CT scan of the lesion), bone scan, and the final diagnosis still requires pathological diagnosis.