«This review is published by Doody Enterprises, Inc.
Score: 80 - 3 Stars

Reviewer
Yasser R Farid, MD, MSc, PhD
(University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine)

Description
This excellent review of musculoskeletal tumors features expert discussions of different tumors and tumor-like conditions of the skeleton as well as diagnosis and treatment, including nonsurgical alternatives and adjuvant therapies in a comprehensive, well-illustrated format. The previous edition was published in 2007.

Purpose
The purpose is to detail the current standard of care and recent advances in musculoskeletal oncology. The book covers various aspects of diagnosis and treatment including clinical, imaging, histological, and surgical information as well as the molecular features of the neoplasms. These are challenging objectives, but the book adequately meets them.

Audience
The book is written for oncologists as well as nonspecialists, including practicing surgeons, residents, and fellows. It is a valuable resource for test preparation as well as a clinical guide for orthopedic surgeons who might encounter bone or soft tissue lesions that need to be recognized and addressed appropriately.

Features
The book encompasses approaches to the diagnosis and staging of musculoskeletal tumors, including the safe, cost-effective use of various diagnostic modalities, treatment alternatives, future directions, and innovative potentials for cure. It reviews bone and soft tissue tumors including benign and malignant diseases, as well as metastatic disease of bone. This edition features a unique chapter on the surgical treatment of sarcomas in the skeletally immature patient that addresses treatment alternatives that allow tumor control while providing the utmost function and the least limb length discrepancy. A chapter on radiographic and histological differential diagnosis could have been a significant addition, instead of discussions of imaging modalities and histological features of various tumors in isolated chapters. Differential diagnosis of a lesion seen on plain radiographs optimizes a surgeon's decision about the need for referral and biopsy by a specialist. In addition, such a skill enables recognition of various tumors with overlapping histology, which remains a challenge to residents. Furthermore, it reduces functional and oncologic complications of inappropriate prereferral procedures. This could only be achieved with increasing the awareness of differential diagnosis upon initial evaluation of a radiograph that shows a bone lesion.

Assessment
Overall, this is an excellent update and a useful resource for orthopedic oncologists and general orthopedic surgeons.
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