Age as prognostic factor in patients with osteosarcoma

• Published in: Bone (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 49; no. 6; pp. 1173 - 1177
• Main Authors: Hagleitner, Melanie M, Hoogerbrugge, Peter M, van der Graaf, Winette T.A, Flucke, Uta, Schreuder, H.W. Bart, te Loo, D. Maroeska W.M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier 01.12.2011
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age Distribution; Aging - pathology; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; Disease-Free Survival; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Multivariate Analysis; Netherlands - epidemiology; Orthopedics; Osteosarcoma - diagnosis; Osteosarcoma - drug therapy; Osteosarcoma - epidemiology; Osteosarcoma - surgery; Prognosis; Proportional Hazards Models; Recurrence; Tumors of striated muscle and skeleton; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Young Adult; Netherlands; Osteosarcoma; Epidemiology; Outcome; Prognostic factors; Age; Human; Prognosis; Sarcoma; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Malignant tumor; Morphology; Bone; Cancer
• ISSN: 8756-3282; 1873-2763
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bone.2011.08.014

Abstract Age at diagnosis is a well known prognostic factor in many different malignancies; its significance for patients with osteosarcoma is however controversial. To gain more insight in the prognostic role of age, we performed a retrospective study at our institute. We included 102 patients with de-novo osteosarcoma and formed three age groups to evaluate age specific survival rates: ≤ 14 years, 15–19 years and 20–40 years. Differences in outcome between patients aged 15–19 years treated at either the pediatric department or the adult department of oncology were evaluated. The 5-year overall survival rate (OSR) of the whole population was 53.5% ± 1.5%. OSR of 70.6% ± 0.8% was seen in patients ≤ 14 years old, 52.5% ± 1.1% in patients 15–19 years old and 33.3% ± 0.9% in the patients aged 20–40 years (p = 0.01). Significant differences were observed with regard to stage at presentation (higher in older age groups), size of the tumor (larger in younger age groups) and histological response (more good responders in younger age groups). No significant difference was seen between outcomes of patients aged 15–19 years treated at the pediatric or adult oncology department. In conclusion, younger patients have a significantly better outcome than older patients.