Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology:-

Introduction:-

The study of neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases of the soft tissues, including muscle, adipose tissue, tendons, fascia, and connective tissues, is the focus of the surgical pathology specialist known as soft tissue pathology. It can be difficult for a pathologist to make a firm diagnosis of many soft tissue cancers using only gross inspection and microscopy; therefore, additional tools such immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, and molecular pathology procedures are occasionally used.

Pathologists at Massachusetts General Hospital as well as those in other parts of the United States and abroad can receive diagnostic assistance from the Division of Bone and Soft Tissue Pathology. Fellows educated by this organisation typically go on to become academic pathologists or specialists in large community hospitals with active orthopaedic and cancer services. Since 1986, the group's primary research initiatives have been on the clinicopathologic characteristics of numerous malignant diseases that affect the bones and soft tissues. The Radiology, Orthopaedics, Medical Oncology, and Medical Oncology departments at Mass General have worked with us on some of this work. The team is currently extending its research into the molecular genetics of malignancies of the soft tissue and bone.

The division at Mass General is an important component of the Connective Tissue Oncology Group, a multidisciplinary group of doctors devoted to the care of Mass General patients with cancers of the soft tissue and bone. We are moreover associates of the Brigham and Women's Hospital-affiliated Mass General Brigham Connective Tissue Oncology Group.

Achievements in Education and Research:-

Brain Base Tumours:-

The division examines more surgical samples from tumours at the base of the skull than any other facility. Due to the department of radiation oncology's accessibility to proton beam radiation, which draws patients from all over the world, there are a lot of referrals.

Chondrosarcomas and chordomas make up the bulk of skull base tumours. The division has formally defined the morphology of these tumours in relation to their immunoprofile and prognosis in a number of studies. Importantly, these investigations have revealed that 37% of chordomas and chondrosarcomas receive the incorrect diagnosis at non-government facilities. When myxoid chondrosarcoma is misclassified as a chordoma, the majority of errors can be avoided by undergoing immunohistochemistry.

The identification of certain benign bone tumours that can be mistaken pathologically for chondrosarcomas, called chordomas, and the description of variants of chordomas that can be mistaken for benign processes are two more significant morphologic studies relevant to therapy and prognosis.

We recently published a sizable collection of paediatric chordomas, and we are currently examining a subgroup of kids with severe skull base chordomas.

We are investigating chordomas and precursor lesions in ferrets right now, and we just finished a comparative genomic hybridization investigation into chordomas.