Bone cysts can usually be diagnosed by looking at an X-ray of your child’s bone. This will highlight any hollow cavities or fractures in the bone.
In many cases, a bone cyst will only be discovered by chance when X-rays are used to diagnose an unrelated condition. Alternatively, a diagnosis may be confirmed after the affected bone has been fractured.
Further testing
Further testing is usually only required if:
- the cyst has developed on the end of a long bone that is still growing (an area of the bone known as the growth plate) and there is concern that it may affect normal physical development.
- there are additional symptoms, such as unexplained weight loss, which mean a diagnosis of bone cancer needs to be ruled out – it should be stressed that bone cancer is very rare, with only 600 new cases occurring in the UK each year
- the cyst is so large that the affected bone is at risk of fracturing (breaking)
In these circumstances, two tests may be used:
- a computerised tomography (CT) scan – a series of X-rays are taken and a computer is used to produce a more detailed, three-dimensional image of the bone
- a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan -strong magnetic fields and radio waves are used to produce a detailed image of the inside of the bone
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