Primary malignant bone tumours in Ibadan, Nigeria: an update

Bone tumours are relatively rare compared to tumours of other sites. The frequency of primary malignant bone tumours is low in our environment, as was observed in an earlier study. The aim of this study is to update the information available on the pattern of primary malignant bone tumours at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria. The medical records of 49 patients with malignant bone tumours documented in the Cancer Registry of UCH, Ibadan between January 2001 and September 2007 were reviewed retrospectively. The results were then added to those of the previous study published in 2002. This brought the number of cases of primary malignant bone tumours to 163 from January 1977 to September 2007. Primary malignant bone tumours represented 0.53% of the 30462 cases of cancer seen in the hospital in the period studied. The male female ratio was 1.5:1. About 44% of the tumours occurred among patients less than 20 years of age. Osteogenic sarcoma was the commonest malignant bone tumour. Important changes recorded in the seven years since the last review from this centre include; a rise in the prevalence rate of primary malignant bone tumours (49 new cases in the last seven years as compared to 114 cases over 23 years), the male-female ratio of Osteogenic sarcoma showed a decline (1.5:1 as compared to 1.6:1), and there was an increase in the prevalence of primary malignant bone tumours in the 0-9 years and > 60 years age groups. The significance of these findings will need to be determined by further studies.