[Complications of oncologic hemipelvectomy]

The treatment of bone pelvic tumors is associated with high compli cation rates. The surgeon usually has to decide between external and internal hemipelvectomy.

To describe the frequency of infectious and wound-related complications in a group of patients undergoing hemipelvectomy for different types of musculoskeletal tumors.

This is an observational, descriptive, retrospective study with a single measurement. We observed the complications that occurred in eight patients treated with different modalities of hemipelvectomy without reconstruction. Infectious and wound-related complications were described as follows: a) no complications, b) seroma, c) hematoma, d) mild infectious process, e) moderate infectious process, f) severe infectious process, and g) flap necrosis. Internal hemipelvectomies were classified usin Enneking and Dunham's criteria.

Eight patients were assessed. Five patients underwent external hemipelvectomy and three internal hemipelvectomy. Two patients had no complications (25%), three had seromas (37.5%), one patient wa treated for a mild infectious process (12.5%) and two for severe infectious processes (25%). 75% of the patients had complications. No cases of flap necrosis were observed.

The surgeon decides which the best procedure in each case is. Different types of complications of hemipelvectomy have been reported; the most common ones are infectious processes and flap necrosis, and our results are similar to those reported by other authors.

Pelvic bone tumors are usually large masses that hinder the achievement of tumor-free surgical margins. There is a high likelihood of postoperative wound complications.