[Bone metastases in Wilms' tumor in relation to histologic grading (author's transl)]

86 patients with Wilms' tumor were treated in Heidelberg between 1951 and 1980. Using the histopathologic grading according to Hardwick and Stowens the sarcomatous tumor type has an unfavorable prognosis. All the patients in stage III to V developed metastases. In contrast to other types of Wilms' tumor these sarcomatous tumors do metastasize to bones, not primarily to the lung. Boys up to 5 years are mostly affected by the tumor. These were "cold" lesions in bone scan using different radionuclides on skeletal osteolytic metastases, which is limiting the application of scans to detect bone metastases in Wilms' tumor. A more aggressive chemotherapy should be given to improve prognosis of the sarcomatous type of Wilms' tumor.