The practice of non-neoplastic orthopedic pathology has been increasingly relegated to radiologists and orthopedic surgeons. This has begun to create the perception amongst clinicians that there is limited usefulness and poor cost effectiveness for pathologic interpretation in the majority of bone diseases. Neoplastic orthopedic pathology, constituting only 0.01% of bone pathology, is best understood in the context of non-tumorous conditions of bones and joints; the goal of this course is to make you better at understanding both.

The objective of this course is to provide a framework upon which to build your abilities to make orthopedic diagnoses. We hope to accomplish this by taking nine common findings seen in association with bone diseases and to show you how to place these in a logical differential diagnostic context with illustrative case materials. These case materials will consist of virtual slides supplemented by clinical imaging studies posted on the USCAP website for your review prior to the meeting. You will also receive a detailed and referenced course syllabus at the time of the course. and registrants will also have access to materials posted after the meeting on the USCAP website. While your skill sets in bone diseases will certainly be increased, this course will not make you a bone pathologist. On the other hand, we hope to increase your interest in the subject and to make you more comfortable with its practice. We will specifically address the performance and interpretation of frozen sections and the pitfalls and artifacts unique to the processing of bone for histology.

Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be able to: Logically approach the diagnosis of bone diseases, thus increasing your accuracy in their diagnosis. Most importantly, we want you to have a sense of when you can confidently handle the diagnosis of a bone lesion by yourself and when you should seek outside consultation for diagnosis.

(NEW COURSE)