Primary bone tumours in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria: 25 year review.

BACKGROUND Primary bone tumors remain a daunting challenge to orthopaedic surgeons. The challenge is heightened in developing countries due to limited diagnostic and therapeutic facilities and ignorance. The published literature on the subject is sparse in our environment. OBJECTIVE To describe the pattern of primary bone tumors seen in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. METHODS This is a retrospective review of all the histologically confirmed primary bone tumours seen at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) over a 25 year period. RESULTS A total of 242 patients (aged 7.5 to 62 years) with a mean of 25.3 years were studied. One hundred and forty four patients (59.5%) were males and 98 (40.5%) were females. The peak age incidence was in the age group 11-20 years. One hundred and thirty (53.7%) of the tumors were benign. Among these Osteochondroma was the commonest accounting for 36 cases (27.7%) followed by Osteoclastoma, 28 cases (21.5%). Osteosarcoma accounted for 66 cases (58.9%) of all primary malignant tumours in the study. CONCLUSION This study showed that primary bone tumours were mainly benign, occurred predominantly in the second decade of life with a male preponderance. Osteochondroma and Osteosarcoma were the most common benign and primary malignant bone tumours respectively.