Various Factors Affecting Type of Surgery in Osteosarcoma Limb Salvage/Amputation

Abstract

The surgical treatment of osteosarcoma has historically been amputation/disarticulation. While there has been improvement in survival from inclusion of chemotherapy on the one hand, it has been paralleled by a shift of surgical treatment from amputation toward limb salvage surgery. This has led to a protocol of considering every patient for limb salvage surgery at all specialized centers. However, limb salvage should be considered in a patient only if the surgeon is reasonably confident that surgical excision of the tumor with wide margins is feasible, and that the expected function of the limb after limb salvage surgery will be better than ablative surgery in the form of amputation/disarticulation. Aim of this study is to determine the various factors that contribute to the type of surgery done in patients of osteosarcoma. There is a statistically no significant difference in the age gender distribution, staging and tumour volume between the two surgical treatment groups. Keywords: osteosarcoma, amputation, disarticulation, limb salvage surgery