Bones, joints and soft tissue
Developmental and metabolic bone disease, fractures, osteomyelitis, tumours, arthritis and sarcomas.
35 pages
Lesion
- Benign cartilage tumours: osteochondroma and enchondromaThe commonest benign bone tumours make cartilage: a bony stalk with a cartilage cap, or a…
- Bone in hyperparathyroidism and renal osteodystrophyToo much parathyroid hormone makes osteoclasts tunnel through bone
- Bone metastasesMost cancers in bone came from somewhere else, usually prostate, breast, lung, kidney or…
- ChondrosarcomaA malignant cartilage tumour of adults, mostly in the pelvis, shoulder and ribs
- Chordoma, adamantinoma and marrow tumours in boneChordoma grows from notochord remnants at the skull base and sacrum; adamantinoma favours the…
- Ewing sarcomaAn aggressive bone and soft tissue cancer of children and teens made of small round cells…
- Fibrous dysplasia and other fibrous and cystic bone lesionsCommon tumour-like lesions of young bones: a fibrous defect in the cortex, bone replaced by…
- Giant cell tumour of boneA locally aggressive tumour at the ends of long bones in young adults: mutant stromal cells call…
- GoutToo much uric acid crystallizes in and around joints; neutrophils attack the crystals and the…
- Infectious arthritisMicrobes can infect a joint directly, as in septic arthritis, or inflame it from a distance, as…
- Joint cysts and tenosynovial giant cell tumourMost lumps around joints are cysts filled with jelly or fluid
- Juvenile idiopathic arthritisChronic arthritis that starts before 16 with no known cause
- Leiomyoma and leiomyosarcoma of soft tissueBenign smooth muscle tumours of skin and vessels, and their malignant counterpart, a sarcoma of…
- Lipoma and liposarcomaLipomas are soft, common and harmless
- Nodular fasciitis, fibromatoses and desmoid tumourA fast-growing but harmless lump, a scarring disease of palms and soles, and a tumour that…
- OsteoarthritisIn osteoarthritis the joint cartilage wears and breaks down; the bone beneath thickens, grows…
- Osteogenesis imperfecta: the type I collagen diseaseFaulty type I collagen makes bones that snap with little force, plus blue sclerae, loose joints…
- Osteoid osteoma and osteoblastomaTwo benign bone-forming tumours with the same tissue: a tiny painful one in long bones and a…
- Osteomyelitis: pyogenic, tuberculous and syphiliticInfection of bone and marrow
- Osteonecrosis (avascular necrosis)When the blood supply to a piece of bone is cut, the bone and marrow die
- Osteopetrosis and storage disease of boneWhen osteoclasts cannot remove bone, bones become dense but brittle and squeeze out the marrow
- OsteoporosisIn osteoporosis bone is normal in quality but there is too little of it, so vertebrae, hips and…
- OsteosarcomaThe commonest primary bone cancer of children and teens: malignant cells that make osteoid…
- Paget disease of boneIn Paget disease, overactive osteoclasts and frantic repair make bone that is thick but weak…
- Pseudogout (CPPD disease)Calcium pyrophosphate crystals deposit in cartilage, mostly in older people, and can set off…
- RhabdomyosarcomaThe commonest soft tissue sarcoma of children: a tumour of cells trying to become skeletal…
- Rheumatoid arthritis: synovitis and pannusIn rheumatoid arthritis the immune system inflames the joint lining, which grows into a…
- Rickets and osteomalaciaWithout enough vitamin D or phosphate, new bone matrix cannot harden
- Seronegative spondyloarthropathiesA family of arthritides without rheumatoid factor that inflame the spine and the sites where…
- Skeletal dysplasias and dysostosesSome skeletal diseases come from faulty patterning genes (a bone missing or extra); others from…
- Synovial sarcoma and undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcomaSynovial sarcoma has nothing to do with synovium; it is a fusion-driven sarcoma of young adults
Topic
- Bone tumours at a glanceBone tumours are named by the tissue they make
- Metabolic bone disease comparedA side-by-side table of the common metabolic bone diseases: what is wrong, how the blood tests…
- Soft tissue tumours: principlesSoft tissue tumours are named for the tissue they resemble
Process
A to Z
Educational content on the mechanisms of disease; not a diagnostic or treatment guide and no substitute for a health professional's advice. No doses are given.
Representative model, for educational purposes only.