What are the symptoms of bone cysts?

Bone cyst is a very rare disease and there are no obvious symptoms when it occurs, so it is easy for parents to define it as an ordinary injury. However, for children, the harm of bone cysts will continue to increase with age, so parents should learn more about the symptoms of bone cysts and try to nip the harm in the bud.

1. Symptoms of bone cysts

1. It is common in children aged 4-20 years old, and is more common in children aged 5-15 years old. It often occurs at the femoral neck, upper end of the femur and upper end of the humerus. As age increases, the cyst gradually moves toward the bone.

2. Generally, there are no obvious symptoms. Most patients seek medical treatment due to pathological fractures, pain, swelling, and functional impairment, and the disease is only discovered through X-rays.

3. X-rays show oval osteolytic destruction at the distal end or diaphysis of long bones with clear boundaries and a thin sclerotic zone around it. The bone cortex may be slightly expanded and thinned.

2. The main harms of bone cysts to the body are:

1. The harm of aneurysmal bone cyst

If the lesion is located in the spine, it will invade the spinal cord or compress the nerve roots, which may cause complications such as low back pain, lower limb atrophy, incontinence, and even paraplegia.

When the lesion occurs in the long bones: local swelling, hardness, immobility, no obvious tenderness or only slight tenderness. A few are discovered only due to pathological fractures. Some show local persistent pain, high skin temperature, shiny, superficial vein distension, and may even resemble a tumor.

2. Harm of odontogenic jaw cyst

Cysts are formed when teeth are inflamed or damaged, leading to epithelial hyperplasia, degeneration, or the presence of fluid. They are common in any part of the jaw and can be single or multiple and grow slowly. Children may not have any symptoms in the early stages. If they continue to grow, the bones will gradually expand around them, causing facial deformities. When the disease grows larger, the surface bones will become extremely thin bone plates, which may feel like a ping-pong ball when palpated, and produce a so-called crisp cracking sound like folding parchment. Eventually, even this extremely thin bone plate will be absorbed, resulting in a sense of fluctuation. When the mandibular cyst grows too large and too much bone is damaged, pathological fractures may occur.

How should bone cysts be diagnosed?

1. Diagnosis of bone cyst

Bone cysts are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms and a long course of disease: in about 45% of cases, pathological fractures are the first symptom, and sometimes there is mild local soreness and discomfort. Bone cysts in superficial areas may show varying degrees of expansion and deformation of the diseased bones.

X-ray examination and pathological examination are consistent with bone cyst.

2. Differential diagnosis of bone cysts

Giant cell tumor of bone often occurs on the more protruding side of the tendon end, presenting as uniform bone destruction or soap-like shadows. Single enchondroma is common in adults. X-ray examination shows multiple spotty calcification shadows in the tumor.

3. Single fibrous dysplasia is common in children and middle-aged people, and in both sexes. It is most common in the femur, gallbladder, and ribs, located in the epiphysis or shaft. There is mild local pain and swelling, and the affected bones are bent and deformed, often accompanied by pathological fractures. X-ray examination showed limited bone destruction, appearing as ground glass. The bone is slightly expanded. The pathological manifestations are that the diseased tissue is grayish white, hard and tough, and contains sand-like substances when cut.