%0 Journal Article
%T Guidelines for histopathological specimen examination and diagnostic reporting of primary bone tumours
%A D Charles Mangham
%A Nicholas A Athanasou
%J Clinical Sarcoma Research
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2045-3329-1-6
%X This review is intended to provide histopathologists with guidelines for specimen handling and diagnostic reporting of benign and malignant primary bone tumours; the principles of specimen handling required for assessment of secondary bone tumours are similar. As many primary bone tumours are uncommon or rare, experience in diagnostic orthopaedic pathology is required to maintain a high standard of histological reporting of bone tumours; participation in an external quality assessment (EQA) scheme which includes bone tumour pathology is recommended.Close cooperation is needed between the histopathologist and radiology, surgical, oncology and other clinical colleagues in the diagnosis and treatment of bone tumours; consensus clinical practice guidelines for managing bone sarcomas have been recently published [1,2]. All primary malignant bone tumour cases should be discussed at a properly constituted sarcoma multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting.Primary benign and malignant bone tumours vary widely in their clinical behaviour and pathological features. The nomenclature and classification of primary bone tumours is based mainly on the pathway of tumour cell differentiation; this is usually evidenced by the type of connective tissue matrix formed by tumour cells. The histogenesis of many primary bone tumours, however, is not known and a number of bone tumours are by convention classified by distinct morphological or clinicopathological features (eg giant cell tumour of bone) or by karyotypic and molecular genetic abnormalities (eg Ewing's sarcoma) [3,4]. The 2002 World Health Organisation (WHO) classification of bone tumours is recommended for histological reporting of bone tumours as it is well-recognised and widely employed internationally [3]. [Table 1].Histological grading of a bone sarcoma provides a guide as to its biological behaviour and is based largely on the degree of cellular and nuclear pleomorphism, cellularity, mitotic activity and the extent of tumour nec
%U http://www.clinicalsarcomaresearch.com/content/1/1/6