Long-term results (>25 years) of a randomized, prospective clinical trial evaluating chemotherapy in patients with high-grade, operable osteosarcoma
Cancer, 06/04/2012
Bernthal MN et al. – Patients with high-grade, localized osteosarcoma who received adjuvant chemotherapy after undergoing definitive surgical resection had a statistically significant benefit in disease-free and overall survival that was maintained through 25 years. Tumor necrosis after just 1 cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation was predictive of overall survival and disease-free survival in patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy.
Methods- Fifty-nine patients with high-grade, localized osteosarcoma were enrolled in a prospective trial that was performed between 1981 and 1984 at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).
- Patients were randomized to receive either adjuvant chemotherapy or observation after surgical resection.
- Long-term outcomes, follow-up, and pathologic review of all available histologic sections were performed.
- The 25-year disease-free survival rate was 28% for patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy compared with 15% for the untreated patients (P = .02).
- The overall survival rate at 25 years was also significantly higher for treated patients versus untreated patients (38% vs 15%; P = .02).
- Tumor necrosis >90% after a single round of chemotherapy was a statistically significant predictor of overall survival and disease-free survival for patients who received adjuvant therapy (164 months vs 65 months [P = .04] and 141 months vs 14 months [P < .01], respectively).
