Overview of Extremity Musculoskeletal Neoplasms at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital Zaria, Nigeria

BACKGROUND: The burden of managing patients with musculoskeletal neoplasms in the West African sub-region is quite significant. This is largely due to late presentation, delay in making diagnosis, and failure of obtaining consent to certain surgical procedures. Improvements in diagnosis and treatment over the years have however increased life and limb survival for many patients. This study was aimed at evaluating the clinicopathologic pattern of neoplasm as it affects the upper and lower limbs with a view to determining the most common types, the most involved sites of the body and the age at presentation of these tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 65 patients with histologically confirmed neoplasm of the upper and lower limbs arising from bone, cartilage, skeletal muscle, synovium, and tendon sheath were retrospectively selected 7 years from January 2008 to 2015. RESULTS: Forty-one (63.1%) patients were males, whereas 24 (36.9%) were females. Age range is between 5 and 75 years, average of 30.8 years. Lower limb involvement was recorded in 40 (61.5%) patients, with remaining 25 (38.5%) patients in upper limbs. 28 (43.1%) patients had benign lesion, whereas 37 (56.9%) were malignant. Giant cell tumor (GCT) was the most frequent benign tumor (50%) while osteogenic sarcomas top the list on the malignant variety (32.4%). The most commonly affected bones were tibia, carpal-metacarpal, and femur in that order. CONCLUSION: In our center, GCT and osteogenic sarcoma are the most frequently encountered benign and malignant musculoskeletal extremity neoplasms, respectively, with the tibial bone being most commonly affected.