Treatment options for orthopaedic oncologic entities

Over the past 2 decades, tremendous advancement in the understanding of tumor natural history and treatment has occurred. If the basic principles are followed, the evaluation and appropriate treatment of musculoskeletal tumors can be reproduced successfully by any conscientious surgeon. Many benign bone and soft-tissue tumors can and probably should be treated by the community orthopaedic surgeon, and this chapter is biased toward treatment of those lesions. The encounter of a malignant lesion is probably beyond the scope of practice of most practicing orthopaedic surgeons. The assessment of the patient and treatments rendered in the first meetings may well dictate the ultimate outcome of survival and limb preservation: thus, patients with such lesions should be treated by experienced orthopaedic oncologists. With the small numbers of these lesions and the extreme consequences of mishandling them, it would be imprudent to do otherwise.