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Lani · 08-01-2009, 07:03 PM

of course you can biopsy bone--bone biopsies are done every day.

Bone biopsies apparently take longer to "read out" by pathologists as they have to be decalcified (takes about 3 days) before they can be sliced thinly and inspected under the microscope.

Some tumors/mets affect the inner spongy part of the bone, others the outer hard part of the bone. Some cancers cause an increase in the density of adjacent bone (osteoblastic metastases) some result in a decrease in the density of adjacent bone (osteoclastic metastases). Both slow growing benign and relatively slow growing malignant tumors can "erode bone"

Was the surgeon an ear, nose and throat surgeon or a neurosurgeon?

Orthopaedic surgeons apparently do bone biopsies much more often, although they rarely do skull biopsies (they work from the chin down mostly it seems)

Are you being taken care of at a major cancer center? Are you sure they sent nothing to pathology for examination? Are you sure you understood him correctly and he didn't just mean you had to wait 3 days for the biopsy to be decalcified before it could be examined and read?

08-01-2009, 07:03 PM	#4
Lani Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 4,783	Re: Skull surgery of course you can biopsy bone--bone biopsies are done every day. Bone biopsies apparently take longer to "read out" by pathologists as they have to be decalcified (takes about 3 days) before they can be sliced thinly and inspected under the microscope. Some tumors/mets affect the inner spongy part of the bone, others the outer hard part of the bone. Some cancers cause an increase in the density of adjacent bone (osteoblastic metastases) some result in a decrease in the density of adjacent bone (osteoclastic metastases). Both slow growing benign and relatively slow growing malignant tumors can "erode bone" Was the surgeon an ear, nose and throat surgeon or a neurosurgeon? Orthopaedic surgeons apparently do bone biopsies much more often, although they rarely do skull biopsies (they work from the chin down mostly it seems) Are you being taken care of at a major cancer center? Are you sure they sent nothing to pathology for examination? Are you sure you understood him correctly and he didn't just mean you had to wait 3 days for the biopsy to be decalcified before it could be examined and read?