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Musculoskeletal Tumors: Gaining Control

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Richard L. McGough III, MD
Chief, Division of Musculoskeletal Oncology
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
(412) 802-4100

The types of conditions and patients that we treat in our Center generally are people who have either bone or soft tissue tumors. These can break into a bunch of different groups, some of them are tumors that primarily come from the bone, others are tumors that spread from a different organ and end up in the bone. We also take care of both benign meaning not cancerous and cancerous tumors of the soft tissues in the extremities and in the pelvis.

Evaluation Process

The evaluation process for the patient really starts with meeting the patient. That way we can look at what’s been done before, we can look at what studies have occurred and oftentimes we can make a diagnosis based solely on what is brought to us on the first day. Some however need more advanced studies and for those patients we may recommend a biopsy. In our Center for biopsies we generally can do them under minimally invasive techniques where the patient comes in and on the same day gets the biopsy done and then is able to go home.

Individualized Treatment

The prognosis for patients with musculoskeletal tumors is very variable. The simplest conditions we can just observe and they may need no treatment. Others will respond very well to simple surgery and unfortunately the most serious conditions may require surgery, chemotherapy and even radiation treatments. What we can do here however is provide world class care for every patient in an individualized manner.

Dedicated Team

Here at UPMC Cancer Center we’re fortunate to have a team of over 40 experts dedicated to caring for patients who have these conditions. We have a group of doctors, nurses, physician assistants and researchers who meet together on a weekly basis to help determine optimal care for patients who are suffering from musculoskeletal tumors.

World-class Care

Here at UPMC we’ve seen everything from the most common to the most obscure conditions and are absolutely committed to world class research and groundbreaking patient care for all of our patients.