THE PLACE OF EXTERNAL IRRADIATION IN THE TREATMENT OF OSTEOGENIC SARCOMA

¹ Bristol United Hospitals

The foregoing suggestions may be summarised in the following recommendations for the treatment of osteogenic sarcoma.

1. Deep x-ray therapy in high dosage, followed by local resection, should be given serious trial especially: 1) in the upper limb; 2) in the group with atypical clinical or radiographic signs, or histology resembling that of inflammatory lesions; 3) with Grade I histology; and 4) in the young.

2. Deep x-ray therapy followed at once by amputation should be used for osteogenic sarcoma if : 1) local resection would leave a lower limb more unstable than an artificial leg ; or 2) if response to x-rays is poor.

3. Deep x-ray therapy alone should be used: 1) if the patient is unsuitable for, or refuses, any operation ; and 2) palliatively, if metastases are present or the tumour is too advanced, or the patient is not fit for radical treatment.

4. Amputation alone should be used palliatively, for pain or fungation, when x-ray therapy has failed to relieve, or is not readily obtainable.

5. Biopsy and histological grading must be performed in every case. A histological diagnosis is most important. Coley (1949) and MacDonald and Budd (1943) support this view.

6. The records of every possible case should be sent to and discussed by a group with special experience of these tumours.