[Cytogenetic and molecular genetic changes in malignant primary bone tumors].

Osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma and tumors of the Ewing group are the most frequently observed primary malignant bone tumors. In an Internet homepage recently constructed for the Orthopedic Hospital Rizzoli Bologna, Italy, these tumors have represented the majority of 4423 malignant bone tumors in the archives of this institution since 1920 (http:/(/)www.tizeta.it/rizzoli). Malignant fibrous histiocytoma, fibrosarcoma, hemangioendothelioma, malignant hemangiopericytoma and giant-cell tumors are diagnosed less frequently. Since the introduction of modern molecular and cytogenetic techniques, knowledge of genetic aberrations in malignant bone tumors has steadily increased. However, so far only for the group of Ewing tumors has a recurrent chromosomal marker, the translocation t(11;22) (q24;q12), been identified.