Bone lesion -- anyone here have experience with this?

[ereks mom]

A very dear young friend of ours (19yog) has been having problems with pain in her wrist for about 2 years now. She is a musician (piano, bassoon, oboe, and other instruments) and a college music major. Due to pain in her left wrist, she stopped playing bassoon and began playing oboe, and then she developed pain in the right wrist! The pain is constant, but is much worse when she plays music or types on the computer. She has seen a doctor, who said her problem is NOT carpal tunnel syndrome, and then referred her to another doctor, who ordered an MRI. She found out today that the MRI reveals a bone lesion and the doctor wants her to have it evaluated ASAP by a specialist.

 

Does bone lesion = tumor? (I know, not necessarily malignant, but serious, nonetheless, right?) We are very concerned for our friend. If you have any experience with this type of injury/illness, can you tell us anything that will set our minds at ease?

[G5052]

They found one when I broke my heel in December on the initial x-ray. I saw the same doctor that I've seen for years on various issues with this same foot. He didn't think that it was anything but ordered more MRI views than normal and send some of them to a specialist friend of his.

 

It was nothing to worry about. Just a different "texture" to the bone.

 

FWIW -- she should definitely see a HAND specialist, not a general orthopedist, if possible. I had been told by multiple doctors that I had carpal tunnel and needed surgery. If I had gone through the surgery, it would have done nothing. I saw a top-flight hand specialist, and he said it was a combination of tendonitis and very loose joints. I had physical therapy and he gave me a very special type of splint, and it's fine.

Edited March 11, 2009 by GVA

[Parrothead]

I didn't know what bone lesions were so I looked them up. I found this article, which is long and a bit complex for me at this time of night. But I did read this part:

 

The majority of primary bone tumours develop in childhood, late adolescence or early adulthood, coinciding with the growth spurt and time of maximal metabolic and reconstructive activity of bone. They frequently affect long bones, which undergo greater growth and remodelling. They also tend to occur at the end of the bone where growth is greatest [2]. Malignant tumours do, on occasions, develop from pre-existent benign tumours, and this may also relate to excessive cellular activity.

 

From that I'm getting that not very often are bone lesions equal to cancer.

 

I'll be praying for your friend.