[Recent progress in morphology and diagnosis of bone diseases and bone tumors (author's transl)]

1. Bone structure is shaped by a specialized bone cell system comprising osteoblasts, osteocytes and osteoclasts. --2. The function of this bone cell system is impaired by metabolic bone disease altering bone structure, bone mass and mineral content. --3. In metabolic bone disease a striking improvement in morphologic diagnosis could be obtained recently using undecalcified preparations of bone tissue as well as histomorphometric methods. --4. For exact diagnosis and successful therapy of bone tumors interdisciplinary cooperation is mandatory. The advantages of modern morphologic methods are proven helpful in diagnosing benign and malignant bone tumors.