Background: There has been few published reports of primary bone tumours and tumour-like lesions in Zaria.
Objective: To determine the relative frequencies of primary bone tumours and tumour-like lesions of bone and the anatomical sites of their occurrence.
Methods: A retrospective review of histopathology reports of all bone specimens received in the Department of Histopathology, Ahmadu Bello University, Teaching Hospital Zaria between 1995 and 2004.
Results: Of the 127 histologically diagnosed tumours and tumour-like lesions, 74 (58.3%) were males and 53 (41.7%) were females, giving a male to female ratio of 1.5:1. Benign Tumours accounted for 38.6% of the tumours while the malignant tumours and the tumour-like lesions made up 39.4% and 22% respectively. Osteochondroma [20(15.7%)] and osteosarcoma [17 (13.4%)] were the most commonly encountered tumours while fibrous dysplasia [26(20.4%)] was the most common tumour-like lesion. The peak age incidence of occurrence of these tumours was in the 2(n) [47 (37.0%)] and 3rd [28(22.0%)] decades. The face was the most common site with 62 (48.8%) of occurrence followed by the femur accounting for 8 (6.3%).
Conclusion: Bone tumours, of which the most common benign and malignant tumours were osteochondroma and Osteosarcoma respectively appear to be mainly a problem of young adults in Zaria.