Osteoblastoma Bone Tumor

Osteoblastoma What Is It? An osteoblastoma is a rare and primary bone tumor. These are benign tumors meaning they are not malignant. Less than 5 percent of bone tumors are this type of tumor. This tumor can be very painful even excruciating. It will usually affect males more than females. Around 75 percent of these tumors will occur in people that are under 30 years old. But anyone of any age can get an osteoblastoma. They are not normally present in senior citizens but people in their 50’s have been diagnosed with these.

The testing to diagnose this condition is usually an MRI, bone scan, cat scan. Usually the primary complaint will be pain and they will look for a cause to the chronic pain. Sometimes they can happen in the arm or leg bones too. Each case is different as to location and how big the tumor is. They will treat it accordingly. Sometimes they may send you for a second opinion before they would operate.

These tumors will most often be in the vertebrae. These tumors can cause swelling and even neurological symptoms. A biopsy will usually be done to confirm this diagnosis correctly. The treatment for this is normally surgery to take the tumor out. After the tumor has been taken out then the protocol is usually radiation and/or chemotherapy. They are trying to keep the tumor from coming back.