[Conservative surgery for osteosarcoma in children under 8 years of age]

Recent progress is chemotherapy for treatment of malignant tumors of the skeleton permit conservative treatment in many cases by resection-reconstruction rather than amputation. The problem remains acute and divided in young children because of considerable intramedullary tumoral extension and other requirements due to growth. The authors comment their experience of femoral osteosarcoma in 3 different methods of conservative treatment: 1 Creation of a progressive regenerate by Ilizarov's lift technique previously experienced on animal. 2 Total replacement of the femur with hip and knee arthroplasty using Dr Delepine massive growth prothesis. 3 Subtotal femoral replacement, sparing the superior and inferior growth plates, by a massive homograft fixed by a locked nail. The authors discuss the advantages and difficulties of each method with regards to literature and with their own experience.