What is a documented use of ultrasound in bone tumor assessment?

• A. Diagnosing fungal osteomyelitis
• B. Evaluating deep bone structures
• C. To aid diagnostic sampling
• D. Replacing CT for metastatic screening

Answer: (C)

Ultrasound is most usefully documented in bone tumor assessment as a tool to aid diagnostic sampling. Real-time guidance lets you place a needle or core biopsy precisely into a lesion or its soft-tissue extension, improving the likelihood of obtaining a representative tissue sample and reducing the risk of missing viable tumor tissue or sampling necrotic areas. This is particularly valuable when the tumor has a superficial location or a conspicuous soft-tissue component that is well visualized with ultrasound, allowing safer navigation around surrounding structures.

Ultrasound’s strengths are in guiding sampling of accessible sites and in characterizing surrounding soft tissue involvement, rather than in evaluating deep intramedullary bone or serving as a replacement for CT or other imaging modalities. Because bone surfaces strongly reflect ultrasound, it isn’t ideal for assessing deep bone structures or for metastatic screening, and radiographs or CT remain superior for those roles.