title: Osteosarcoma among children aged 5 years or younger: the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital experience.
abstract: Osteosarcoma primarily affects adolescents. The authors reviewed the records of eight patients aged 5 years or younger (of 470 patients with osteosarcoma) treated at their institution. Tumors (seven of high grade and one of low grade) arose mostly in the appendicular skeleton; one patient had metastases. One patient with low-grade osteosarcoma survived after surgery alone. Two with active disease died of chemotherapy toxicity. The remaining five (three received chemotherapy) underwent surgery and are long-term survivors. Two who underwent hemipelvectomy or hip disarticulation would likely have undergone limb-sparing surgery today. These findings and a review of the similar cases in the literature suggest that osteosarcoma's clinical characteristics are similar among young children and older children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology-Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: Christine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hartford
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Wodowski
authors.forename: Bhaskar N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Joseph D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Neel
authors.forename: Najat C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Daw
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D012516:Osteosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome