Transmedullary amputation and resection of metastases in combined therapy of osteosarcoma

• Published in: Journal of pediatric surgery Vol. 12; no. 3; pp. 427 - 435
• Main Authors: Mahesh Kumar, A.P., Wrenn, Earle L., Fleming, Irvin D., Pratt, Charles B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.06.1977
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Amputation - methods; Artificial Limbs; Bone Neoplasms - surgery; Child; Early Ambulation; Extremities - surgery; Female; Humans; Lung Neoplasms - surgery; Male; Neoplasm Metastasis; Osteosarcoma - surgery; Pneumonectomy; Osteosarcoma
• ISSN: 0022-3468; 1531-5037
• DOI: 10.1016/0022-3468(77)90021-5

The eradication of microfoci of metastatic osteosarcoma by adjuvant chemotherapy permits the surgeon to take a more conservative approach to amputation and to more aggressively resect metastases. In a series of 59 children with osteosarcoma of an extremity, transmedullary amputation carried no greater risk of stump recurrence than either disarticulation or amputation above the joint. We attribute this to careful selection of the level of amputation by use of preoperative bone scans, intraoperative frozen sections of bone stump and intensive post-operative adjuvant chemotherapy. Immediate application of a prosthetic limb has enhanced the physical and emotional rehabilitation of these patients. Resections of pulmonary metastases in 12 patients who were receiving adjuvant chemotherapy has resulted in a median tumor-free survival of 17 mo, with 3 patients still alive without disease for 13, 25, and 72 mo. A more aggressive approach to the resection of pulmonary metastases may substantially improve current rates of tumor-free survival.