The preliminary experience using Magnetic Resonance imaging for pre- andpost-operative assessment of orthopaedic oncologic patients is hereby reported. Twenty-onepatients with histologically characterized bone and soft tissue tumors have been reviewed. Seventeenpatients had primary musculoskeletal neoplasia: 10 had soft tissue sarcomas and 7 bonetumors. The remained 4 patients consisted of bone metastasis or local racidive. Magneticresonance images were acquired using a superconductive magnet operating at 0.5 Tesla. T1-and T2-weighted transaxial and coronal images were obtained in all cases. An excellent contrastbetween the signal of the lesion and the normal adjacent structures was usually obtained.Only in one osteosarcoma of the proximal fibula, an extraosseous extension was presumed butnot found during surgical resection. Changes in image intensity did not permit to identify tumortissue specificity neither distinguish between benign and malignat lesions. In our experience,Magnetic Resonance shows a great advantage in order to determine tumor anatomical extension,providing a useful information for the surgical planning required by current reconstructivetechniques in orthopaedic oncology.

The preliminary experience using Magnetic Resonance imaging for pre- andpost-operative assessment of orthopaedic oncologic patients is hereby reported. Twenty-onepatients with histologically characterized bone and soft tissue tumors have been reviewed. Seventeenpatients had primary musculoskeletal neoplasia: 10 had soft tissue sarcomas and 7 bonetumors. The remained 4 patients consisted of bone metastasis or local racidive. Magneticresonance images were acquired using a superconductive magnet operating at 0.5 Tesla. T1-and T2-weighted transaxial and coronal images were obtained in all cases. An excellent contrastbetween the signal of the lesion and the normal adjacent structures was usually obtained.Only in one osteosarcoma of the proximal fibula, an extraosseous extension was presumed butnot found during surgical resection. Changes in image intensity did not permit to identify tumortissue specificity neither distinguish between benign and malignat lesions. In our experience,Magnetic Resonance shows a great advantage in order to determine tumor anatomical extension,providing a useful information for the surgical planning required by current reconstructivetechniques in orthopaedic oncology.