Pattern of bone tumours at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria

A retrospective study of the pattern of bone tumours over a 6-year period at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria, has been done. Only those patients with histological diagnosis of bone tumours had their medical records analysed. Thirty-six cases were seen with 19 males and 17 females. The benign cases numbered 24, while malignant cases numbered 12. Osteochondroma and Giant Cell Tumour, numbering 14 and 5 respectively, were the commonest benign lesions, while osteosarcoma numbering 8 cases, was the commonest malignant lesion. The age and sex patterns conform with worldwide patterns. The usual presenting symptoms was mass/swelling with or without pain. The benign cases had excision plus/minus bone grafting of their lesions while some of the malignant cases had ablation before referral to the radiotherapist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). The treatment outcome could not be verified due to poor follow-up of most cases.