Background

Benign bone lesions can weaken bone, making it more prone to fracture. The patient can have chronic pain in an area of pathologic fracture, or sudden pain due to seemingly minor trauma. Seemingly insignificant trauma can lead to pathologic fracture in the presence of a bone lesion, regardless of whether it is a benign or malignant lesion.

The many types of bone lesions can be differentiated based on multiple characteristics. Some important aspects of characterization include:

1. Benign vs malignant
2. Location - epiphyseal, metaphyseal, diaphyseal, bone surface
3. Morphology - sclerotic, lytic/lucent, other
4. Tissue type - osteogenic, chondrogenic, fibrogenic, osteoclastic, notochordal (remnant of a fetal structure of the spine), vascular tumors of bone, hematopoietic tumors of bone, mesenchymal tumors of bone