The Incidence of Malignant Infiltration in the Biopsy Tract of Osteosarcoma

Biopsy is a crucial step in the management of musculoskeletal sarcoma. The surgical approach to the biopsy site is important, as the tract must be removed en bloc with the tumour during limb sparing surgery so as to reduce the risk of local recurrence. The biopsy tracts of 26 osteosarcoma patients...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: R Mohana, WI Faisham, W Zulmi, AS Nawfar, O Effat, Salzihan MS
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Malaysian Orthopaedic Association 2007-11-01
Series:Malaysian Orthopaedic Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:http://morthoj.org/2007v1n2/Osteosarcoma.pdf
Description
Summary:Biopsy is a crucial step in the management of musculoskeletal sarcoma. The surgical approach to the biopsy site is important, as the tract must be removed en bloc with the tumour during limb sparing surgery so as to reduce the risk of local recurrence. The biopsy tracts of 26 osteosarcoma patients were evaluated histologically for tumour infiltration. Horizontal sections of 1 mm thickness with 2 cm radius from were evaluated from each excised biopsy tract. Five out of 26 cases (19.2%) showed positive tumour infiltration. One case (3.85%) had tumour infiltration in the pseudocapsule, two cases (7.69%) had tumour infiltration into the muscle and two other cases (7.69%) had tumour infiltration into the subcutaneous tissue. None had skin infiltration. We conclude that resection of the entire biopsy tract is indeed mandatory for surgical treatment of osteosarcoma.
ISSN:1985-2533