[Importance of reference registries in bone tumor diagnosis. Experiences with the Swiss Bone Tumor Register]

Bone tumors are extremely rare. It is for this reason that in numerous places reference registries have been set up, actually cover the whole area which within the German-speaking countries. They are intended to enable more precise diagnoses on the base of their larger numbers of cases. The bone tumor registry by the Swiss Society of Pathology at the Department of Pathology of the University of Basel has been started in 1972. Today it includes about 6500 numbers of patients. Of the 4500 numbers concerning tumors of the skeleton excluding the cranium, 3000 have been sent as reference cases from Switzerland and from abroad. The importance of this kind of registry is demonstrated by the fact that in 1100 of these cases the diagnosis had to be changed by the registry, 106 times from "malignant" to "benign", and 124 times from "benign" to "malignant". The complex of problems is displayed by examples from several groups of tumors. In conclusion, the importance of a close collaboration between clinician, radiologist, and pathologist for putting up a correct diagnosis is stressed because it is the crucial condition for an optimal therapy, in particular for malignant tumors.