This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal My Folders Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yoshikawa, H. Articles by Ochi, T. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yoshikawa, H. Articles by Ochi, T.

SKELETAL METASTASES FROM SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS

INCIDENCE, PATTERNS, AND RADIOLOGICAL FEATURES

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka Medical Centre for Cancer and Cardiovascular Diseases, 1-3-3, Nakamichi, Higashinari-ku, Osaka 537, Japan.

N. Araki, MD, Musculoskeletal Tumour Surgeon; S. Kuratsu, MD, Musculoskeletal Tumour Surgeon; A. Uchida, MD, Chief of Musculoskeletal Tumour Surgery; and T. Ochi, MD, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka University Medical School, 2-2, Yamadaoka, Suita 565, Japan.

Correspondence should be sent to Dr H. Yoshikawa.

We reviewed 277 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) treated between 1975 and 1995 to study the incidence, distribution, time of appearance, and radiological findings of skeletal metastases. Of these, 28 (10.1%) had metastases within a mean period of 18.6 months after admission.

The incidence of skeletal metastases differed among the histological subtypes of sarcoma; alveolar soft-part sarcoma, dedifferentiated liposarcoma, angiosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma tended to show higher incidences. The regional bones close to the primary tumour were affected in 13 (46.4%) of the 28 patients, and the axial bones in 18 (64.3%). Radiologically, the metastatic bony lesions predominantly showed osteolytic changes, and there were pathological fractures in 21 of 44 lesions.