Thoracotomy as adjuvant to chemotherapy in metastatic osteogenic sarcoma

This is a review of the experience at Memorial Hospital using chemotherapy combined with surgical excision for control of pulmonary metastases in osteogenic sarcoma. Effective multiple drug chemotherapy was able to control small deposits of osteogenic sarcoma in the lung, making surgical resection of residual visible nodules worthwhile. Surgical resection was most successful for solitary nodules or where multiple nodules were shrunk or at least prevented from growing by chemotherapy. Eight percent of these patients with pulmonary metastases initially or subsequently showed bilateral lung disease. When two or more nodules were found at th oracotomy, they were never confined to one lobe. For these reasons, wedge resections or segmental resections were the most commonly indicated procedures. Results justify an aggressive surgical approach to these lesions including multiple wedge resections of all lesions found at thoracotomy, chest wall resection and multiple bilateral thoracotomies. Chemotherapy alone cannot be expected to cure metastatic osteogenic sarcoma of the lung, but combined with surgical resection of residual disease the results are encouraging.