Endoscopic management of benign bone tumours

Summary

The standard operative procedure for benign bone tumours is curettage and autogenous bone grafting, with or without artificial materials (i.e. hydroxyapatite ceramics) under direct visualisation, necessitating a wide skin incision. If benign bone tumours are treated endoscopically, as in joint surgery or extra-articular surgery (e.g. carpal tunnel release or subacromial decompression), a wide skin incision is not necessary. Since June 1991, we have treated benign bone tumours endoscopically through 1–3 small skin incisions, even when they were located in the pelvis or femoral head. Bone tumours were clearly observed and enough information was obtained to perform biopsies and operations using the Universal Subcutaneous Endoscope (USE) system. 13 benign bone tumours have been successfully treated using the USE system alone or in combination with a standard arthroscope. We conclude that benign bone tumours may be successfully biopsied and operated on endoscopically, with less stressful surgical invasion than in standard open operations. This paper reports our operative procedure and long-term follow-up results of the world's first endoscopic management of benign bone tumours.

Keywords:

• benign bone tumours
• endoscopic treatment
• bone tumour surgery