title: Brain metastases in osteosarcoma: incidence, clinical and neuroradiological findings and management options.
abstract: Brain metastasis is uncommon in osteosarcoma, but this may be changing with prolonged patient survival in the modern chemotherapy era. We present 5 patients with brain metastases out of 39 with lung metastasis (13%) in a total of 87 osteosarcoma patients. The clinical manifestations of brain metastases were catastrophic: massive hemorrhage in 2 and status epilepticus in 3. Metastases were single or multiple, and some were osteoblastic. Surgical intervention in 2 cases resulted in dramatic, though transient, clinical improvement. We advocate periodic neuroradiology screening in osteosarcoma patients with lung metastases, for early detection of brain involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas System Cancer Center, M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute, Houston 77030.
authors.forename: T Z
authors.initials: TZ
authors.lastname: Baram
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Tassel
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Jaffe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed