title: Combined therapy of osteosarcoma: preoperative irradiation, surgery, and chemotherapy.
abstract: The rationale for prebiopsy and preoperative irradiation in a multimodal approach to treatment of osteosarcoma is presented. Six patients with osteosarcoma underwent preoperative irradiation, amputation, and elective chemotherapy. Five of these also received prebiopsy irradiation: three survive without metastases at 29, 36, and 56 months, with no therapy for 10, 16, and 37 months, respectively; two patients died at 6 and 19 months of pulmonary metastases which appeared at 2 and 10 months, respectively. The latter two did not receive prebiopsy irradiation. Another patient, whose pulmonary metastasis regressed at 6 months with adriamycin and was later resected, died of cardiac failure at 59 months without evident metastasis. Immunologic aspects of the disease are also discussed.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000505:Alopecia / Q000139:chemically induced; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D003520:Cyclophosphamide