Clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet

Objective: To compare the clinical characteristics and prognosis between the patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet and the patients with osteosarcoma of four limbs. Methods: The clinical records of patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet (n = 20) and those with osteosarcoma of four limbs (n = 40) between January 2002 and January 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. The follow-up time was 10-80 months. The factors including gender, age, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, pathologic type, limb-salvage rate, metastasis rate of other sites (not lung), local recurrence rate, lung metastasis rate, time to local recurrence and time to lung metastasis were compared between osteosarcoma of the hands and feet and the osteosarcoma of four limbs. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis. Results: There were no significant differences in terms of gender, metastasis of other sites (not lung), limb salvage rate, local recurrence rate and lung metastasis rate between the osteosarcoma of the hands and feet and the osteosarcoma of four limbs (P > 0.05). The proportions of patients aged 20 years or more (P < 0.001), without neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.006), and having typical pathology (P = 0.021) were significantly higher in the patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet than those in the patients with osteosarcoma of four limbs. The time to local recurrence (P = 0.002) and time to lung metastasis (P = 0.009) were both longer in the patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet. The median survival time of the patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet and those with osteosarcoma of four limbs were 66.0 months (95% confidence interval: 55.1-76.9) and 46.0 months (95% confidence interval: 25.4-66.6), respectively (P = 0.044). Conclusion: The characteristics of patients with osteosarcoma of the hands and feet are different from those of the patients with osteosarcoma of four limbs, and the prognosis of osteosarcoma of the hands and feet is better than that of the osteosarcoma of four limbs. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2014.09.012