Secondary pathologic fractures in osteosarcoma: prognosis and evolution

D. Vermesan°, H. Vermesan°, S.I. Dragulescu°, I. Bera^, A. Di Giovanni°°, R. Sabatini**, L. Santacroce^^, L. Bottalico*, P. Flace*, R. Cagiano*

°University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Victor Babes”, Timisoara (Romania) ^“Lucian Blaga” University, Medical School, Sibiu (Romania) °°III Orthopaedic and Traumatologic Clinic; **Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; ^^Department of Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Immunology; *Department of Pharmacology and Human Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Bari (Italy)

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• Oncology

Secondary or pathologic fractures, associated with osteosarcoma, have been considered for a long time to be a negative prognosis regarding its evolution in the patients.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic importance of such pathologic fractures in osteosarcoma patients receiving new therapies as well as the best conditions for surgery aiming at “limbs salvage”.
On a total of 22 patients affected by osteosarcoma, we performed a retrospective study with 12 patients showing pathologic fractures caused by osteosarcoma and 10 patients without any pathologic fracture. The patients enrolled into Timisoara University Hospital have been followed up along 5 years or until a reappearance of either the disease or metastases, distant or local.

Corresponding Author: Raffaele Cagiano, MD; e-mail: r.cagiano@farmacol.uniba.it

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