Surgical Treatment of Solitary Bone Cysts

Abstract

The term “bone cyst” is commonly used quite inappropriately to designate a variety of conditions of bones that are characterized by a circumscribed, sharply delineated area of radiolucency. Only gas- or fluid-filled intraosseous cavities that are encapsulated can be designated as bone cysts according to the definition. A clear distinction must be made between actual cystic lesions of bone and solid tumors that give a cystic appearance radiographically. When biopsy material from one of these solid tumors is referred to the pathologist as being from a cystic condition, even though there is no true bone cyst from the morphological standpoint, it gives rise to many misunderstandings and much confusion among clinicians and pathologists. According to SALZER-KUNT-SCHIK (10), primary bone cysts (i.e. solitary bone cyst and aneurysmal bone cyst), representing a clinically and morphologically distinctive entity of unknown origin, must be separated from the secondary bone cysts and dysontogenetic bone cysts. These comprise a variety of bone cysts of known origin: (1) cystic cavities due to regressive changes in bone tumors; (2) osteoarthritic cyst; (3) subchondral cyst, synovial cyst, intraosseous ganglia; (4) developmental epithelial cyst; (5) traumatic epithelial cyst; (6) echinococcal cyst; (7) hemophilic pseudotumors.