State-of-the-art approach for bone sarcomas

Bone sarcomas are a variety of non-epithelial, malignant neoplasms of bone. The most common bone sarcomas are osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma, and chondrosarcoma. The approach to a patient with a suspected bone sarcoma from initial examination to the histological diagnosis and classification is staging. Staging is of critical importance, in order to classify different treatment options and point out which combination of them is more suitable depending on the severity of the tumor in every individual patient. Staging should include medical history, physical and imaging examination, and biopsy. This article presents the current approach for staging, principles of biopsy, tumor classification, treatment, and follow-up of patients with bone sarcomas. © 2014 Springer-Verlag France.