From 1995 to 1998, twenty seven pediatric patients were included in a prospective clinical study. Their age ranging from 8.9 to 17.5 years old (mean 13.5), 20 (74%) were male and 7(26%) female, with a follow-up going from 3 to 39 months (average of 17). Osteogenic sarcoma arises in Knee (55.5%), ankle (26%), shoulder (11.1%), pelvis (3.7%) and hip (3.7%). Tumors less than 12cm were considered being small ones, while those bigger than 12cm were considered large. .All patients were submitted to clinical, radiological, histological evaluation and graded by Enneking(5) system (13 were IIB and 8 were IIIB); treated by chemotherapeutic agents, according to "Brazillian Protocol 91" and had a local surgical control. There were carried out 9 (42.9%) radical surgical interventions and 12 (57.1%) surgeries of limb preservation. According to lesion size, eight (38.1%) out of 14 (67.9%) patients with a tumor greater than 12cm died; in contrast, none out of 7 with tumor less than 12cm relapsed or died. Authors have concluded that tumor size can be a good factor for prognosis indication, being low cost, simple, easy to reproduce and specially useful for taking pre-treatmente decisions.
Osteosarcoma; prognosis; treatment
