Limb salvage in malignant tumours of appendicular skeleton

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, to evaluate the results of various limb salvage techniques. Average age of the group of 12 subjects was 26.6 years and male to female ratio was 2.1. The histopathological diagnosis yielded recurrent GCT in 4 cases, chondrosarcoma in 3 cases, osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, parosteal osteosarcoma, adamantinoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma in one case each. The surgical procedures included a wide variety of reconstructive methods. Adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy were used where indicated. In terms of functional results, upper limb procedures scored 20.5 points [68%] and the lower limb procedures scored an average of 19 points [63%]. Local recurrence rate was 25%. Minimum follow up period was four years. Complications included recurrence in three patients, pulmonary metastasis, soft tissue implantation, deep infection, nonunion and graft absorption in one case each