Clinical imaging atlas

Bone tumour imaging atlas: MRI, CT and video

Real clinical images show how the team plans investigations and surgery.

How to use this atlas: histology is stated only when confirmed by a source record. Other items demonstrate imaging patterns, not diagnoses. Different images may belong to different patients.

Bone lesions, CT, MRI and reconstruction

MRI of proximal humerus — Left proximal humerus chondrosarcoma; diagnosis documented in the author’s clinical presentation.

CT of pubic bone — Giant cell tumour of the pubic bone; diagnosis documented in an archival multidisciplinary case.

MRI of humerus — Proximal humeral bone lesion; histological diagnosis was not supplied for this image.

CT of tibia — Septated osteolytic lesion of proximal tibia. CT appearance alone cannot establish histology.

MRI of distal femur — Distal femoral bone lesion. No definitive histology is attached.

CT of hand — Intramedullary phalangeal lesion; further clinical and histological correlation is required.

Pelvic CT: separate case — A separate pelvic lesion, not to be merged with the documented GCT case; histology unconfirmed.

Postoperative megaprosthesis — Frontal X-ray following distal femoral and knee endoprosthetic reconstruction; underlying diagnosis not supplied.

Postoperative reconstruction — Lateral X-ray of the same reconstruction, showing structural restoration rather than proven oncological outcome.

MRI clips: the value of scrolling through slices

Short clips from separate studies in the clinical archive. They illustrate changing anatomy through sequential slices and are not sufficient for diagnosis. Histology has not been linked to these clips.

Pelvic and hip-region MRI from a separate study, histology unconfirmed.

MRI of the knee demonstrating bone and periarticular tissues; no confirmed histology assigned.

Differential diagnosis: soft-tissue lesions

A key distinction is whether a mass arises from bone or adjacent soft tissues. This affects biopsy planning and surgery.

Elbow MRI: soft tissues — Fluid-containing olecranon-region soft-tissue lesion; bursitis was considered in source records. Not proof of bone cancer.

Thigh soft-tissue MRI — Deep thigh soft-tissue lesion included to distinguish soft-tissue from primary bone origin.

MRI of a proximal thigh/pelvic-region soft-tissue mass. Not classified here as primary bone cancer.

Avoiding diagnostic overreach

Do not derive histological type from CT or MRI signal alone.
Correlate radiographs, full-bone MRI, clinical context and older studies.
Do not biopsy before the specialist team agrees a safe tract.
Not every lesion requires biopsy: confidently benign findings may follow other pathways.

Biopsy planningTests needed before sampling →Chondrosarcoma caseConfirmed humeral tumour →Pubic GCT caseDiagnosis and resection planning →

Clinical sources

Clinical images and videos from the author’s archive. Patient identifiers have been removed. Diagnoses are stated only where supported by source records. This information does not replace an individual multidisciplinary decision.

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