Musculoskeletal oncology is the subspeciality of orthopaedics focusing on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with both benign and malignant tumours of bone and connective soft tissues. This includes the management of metastatic carcinoma or blood cancers that have spread to the skeleton.
Bone lesions may require an intralesional procedure, resection and reconstruction with an arthroplasty
(joint replacement) operation, or to be stabilised
using trauma techniques with a plate and screws
or intramedullary nail.
The surgical treatment of tumours involves applying skills learnt from the breadth of orthopaedics and surgery in general. Benign soft tissue lumps may be resected marginally, whilst malignant tumours will require a wide local excision and potentially a reconstructive procedure.
