Pediatric Bone Lesions: Beyond the Plain Radiographic Evaluation

Abstract

Bone lesions in children are very common and include true bone tumors and tumor-like lesions. More than onehalf of all childhood bone neoplasms are benign.1 The most ommon benign bone lesions in children are nonossifying broma, osteochondroma, cortical desmoid, Langerhans cell istiocytosis, unicameral bone cyst, and aneurysmal bone yst. The most common malignant bone lesions are osteosaroma, Ewing sarcoma, and metastatic disease, such as from euroblastoma. The radiograph remains the cornerstone for valuation of the pediatric bone lesion. Radiographs provide nformation on the location of the lesion within the bone, the resence and type of mineralized matrix, the nature of the nterface between the tumor and the surrounding host bone, nd the reaction of the host bone to the presence of the umor.2 In conjunction with the age of the patient, the radioraph is key to the differential diagnosis of a bone lesion. owever, cross-sectional imaging with computed tomograhy (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide seful additional information when the radiographic findings re not diagnostic. The goal of this article is to review the role f cross-sectional imaging modalities and imaging characterstics of common benign and malignant bone lesions in peiatric patients.