Reliable and understandable information on bone tumors

You may have a friend or loved one who has been told they have a "bone tumor" or "bone cancer". Just those very words can strike fear and hopelessness into the hearts of patients, families, and friends. Maybe you'd like to understand better what's happening and find out what can be done or should be done to treat, cure or comfort the person suffering from this problem. Perhaps you or your family and friends would like to know more about the treatment you have already received and what might happen to you in the future.

If you are a patient or a friend, this information can help you reduce your worries, help you find the answers to all those questions you've been wanting to ask, and help you live longer and live better by showing you how to get the best possible medical care available. A well informed patient is a better and healthier patient.

If you are a physician or professional, you may be interested in finding information on a specific tumor, disease, treatment or diagnostic modality. You may want to inform yourself about your patient's condition.

In addition, people from around the world with little or no access to medical care need medical information and sometimes guidance. As the authors of this site began receiving more and more messages from overseas, it became increasingly obvious that this site could in some cases quite literally be a lifeline for a person in need. We try to provide assistance and guidance to those in need to whatever extent is possible, using our contacts in the US and abroad. We have also begun the very great task of making the web site usable for non English speaking persons, but much more needs to be accomplished.

Medicine cannot be practiced via e-mail, nor should it be. Your first and best source of information about your tumor should be the trusted doctor who is already treating the condition. It may be more convenient to ask questions via e-mail, but we encourage you to ask them to you doctor first, and to try us if that fails for whatever reason.

We have tried to provide accurate information based on our own experience as well as other credible sources. Other that that, we make no warranty as to the accuracy or suitability of the information in this site.

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A Few Words About Diagnostic Delay in Musculoskeletal Tumors

Delay in diagnosis of tumors remains a major source of concern for patients and physicians alike. Early on, the symptoms of these tumors mimic those of common sprains, strains, bumps and bruises. Tumors can be misdiagnosed, missed, or mistreated for weeks, months, and even years.

The causes of diagnostic delay are many. The early symptoms may be vague and misleading. Initial radiographs may be normal or the findings may be so subtle that they escape detection. Sometimes the caregiver takes a sketchy medical history or performs an incomplete physical examination, and as a result the whole course of treatment is set off in the wrong direction.

Lack of suspicion on the part of the caregiver, inappropriate reassurances that the symptoms are not worthy of real concern, and lack of adequate imaging studies are common reasons for delay. Sometimes there were "red flag" symptoms or findings that should have been heeded. At the core of the problem, many caregivers lack experience and training in these problems and therefore fail to consider a sarcoma in the differential diagnosis.

Delay in diagnosis of musculoskeletal tumors and cancer is not something that necessarily happens to poor physicians performing low-quality care. It also happens to intelligent, well-trained, caring, compassionate physicians who become trapped by the many pitfalls that lie in the path to a correct diagnosis. Patients too can contribute to delay. Some individuals fail to seek out medical care in the face of a problem because of their fear of bad news, or because they may feel that nothing good can come of the treatment process.

Delay in diagnosis of cancer can happen to children as well as senior citizens, to men and to women, to persons with primary bone or soft tissue cancers as well as to persons who have a musculoskeletal manifestation of a cancer that started elsewhere in the body, such as the breast or the lung.

The important thing is to begin the correct treatment immediately once the real diagnosis is discovered. It is important to focus on the good that can be done in the present and in the future rather than the bad that has occurred in the past. A delay in diagnosis does not mean that the tumor cannot be fully treated and cured. Issues related to the delay can be worked out later once the treatment in on track.

The author of this site has a great deal of experience in evaluating and managing diagnostic delay where it relates to tumors of the musculoskeletal system. Please contact the author if you require assistance with these issues

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