ABSTRACT
Musculoskeletal tumours include primary and secondary benign and malignant tumours of bone and soft tissue. The most common malignant bone tumours are secondary metastatic carcinomas (Figure 37.1). Advances in oncological treatment mean that the number of patients living with metastatic bone disease is increasing. The most common carcinomas that metastasise to bone originate in the breast, prostate, lung, kidney and thyroid (Figure 37.2). Haematopoietic tumours may also arise in bone: multiple myeloma (Figure 37.3) is a malignant neoplasm arising from plasma cells in the bone marrow, leading to multiple lesions in the skeleton. When solitary, this type of tumour is called a plasmacytoma.
