[Computer-assisted diagnosis of bone tumors and tumor-like skeletal diseases: critical evaluation of its clinical use].

Thirty-four patients with bone tumours and tumour-like abnormalities of the skeleton, of varying ages, were examined by a computer-aided diagnostic program; the accuracy, clinical usefulness and specific advantages and disadvantages of the program have been evaluated. This was done by two statistical methods, both with showed high accuracy and reliability of the system (97% and 88.2%). In addition to the diagnostic results, the growth rate of the lesion could be estimated. This indicates the biological behaviour of the tumour independently of the histological diagnosis.