Biopsy tract contamination in bone tumours: how paranoid should we be?
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OrthoVellum Editorial · 7d ago
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6-panel MRI showing foot tumor biopsy case with heterogeneous tumor — Credit: Errani C et al. - ScientificWorldJournal (Open-i (NIH)), CC BY
Most musculoskeletal oncology guidelines emphasise longitudinal incisions and avoiding contamination planes during biopsy, but I've seen cases where meticulous technique wasn't possible (prior unplanned biopsy at another centre) and the patient still did well after wide excision including the tract. Tumour board discussions often become quite heated about resecting versus observing a biopsy tract that may or may not harbour microscopic disease. How aggressively do people actually manage this in practice?
