Incidence, treatment and survival of paediatric patients with bone sarcomas in Finland from 1991 to 2005.

Abstract

Our aims were to establish the 10-year overall and event-free survival rates among children and adolescents with bone sarcomas in Finland, estimate their respective incidences, evaluate the treatment given and describe the key prognostic factors. We included 88 patients of <18 years of age diagnosed with a bone sarcoma during 1991-2005 in this retrospective, nationwide and population-based study. Median follow-up time was 12.2 years (range 5.8-20.3 years) for surviving patients. The overall incidence among children and adolescents was 5.1 per million: 3.6 for osteosarcoma, 1.2 for Ewing's sarcoma and 0.3 for chondrosarcoma. The 10-year event-free and overall survival of those with a localised disease at diagnosis was 69% and 82%, respectively. The overall 10-year survival of those with a metastatic disease at diagnosis was 47%. Prognostic factors for localised disease included an axial versus peripheral primary tumour site in Ewing's sarcoma (p = 0.022) and age at diagnosis in osteosarcoma (p = 0.027). The 10-year overall survival of children and adolescents diagnosed with a bone sarcoma in Finland during 1991 to 2005 was very good, at 82% if the disease was localised at diagnosis and 47% if it was metastatic at diagnosis.