The role of surgery for haematologic neoplasms of bone

We report on 205 patients with haematologic neoplasms of bone treated from 1985 to 2009. There were 77 patients with primary bone lymphoma, 77 with myeloma and 51 with plasmacytoma. All patients had medical treatments; 43 patients had wide and 162 intralesional surgery. Mean follow-up was 5 years (median, 3.5 years); 11 patients were lost to followup. At the latest examination, 99 patients were alive without disease, 20 were alive with disease and 75 were dead of disease; 13 patients (6.7%) had local recurrence; 12 patients (24%) with plasmacytoma developed myeloma. Survival to death was significantly higher after wide resection for lymphoma and plasmacytoma, but not for myeloma. Survival to local recurrence was not statistically different between wide and intralesional surgery for any haematologic neoplasm. Surgical complications including aseptic loosening, infection, neurological deficits and breakage of implants occurred in 21 patients (11%).