[Xeroradiographic diagnosis of bone tumours (author's transl)]

The value and drawbacks of xeroradiography were evaluated on 130 patients with benign and malignant bone tumors, 93 of which (72%) were submitted to histological control. Xeroradiography was compared to standard film radiography in 115 cases (88%). In 57 cases (50%), xeroradiography appeared to be more effective than film radiography; it was less effective in 17 cases (15%) and the two techniques were substantially equivalent in the remaining 41 (35%). The best results of xeroradiography were found in malignant tumors, in particular in the presence of an extraosseous spread of the lesion, and it was highly effective in Ewing's sarcoma. According to the sites examined, xeroradiography was more effective in the skeleton of the extremities, while the examination of the trunk and the head were frequently unsatisfactory due to the low sensitivity of this technique. Xeroradiography is held to be an useful second-line examination, to be performed in neoplastic lesions of the limb bones, for the search of small trabecular irregularities, of periosteal reactions or of extraosseous spread of the tumor.