Description
Primary sarcomas of bone are rare, representing approximately half a per cent of all tumours. In the UK, around 350 new bone sarcomas are diagnosed per year, or one new tumour per surgeon every two to three years. This means that little experience is gained outside a few specialist centres. Until recently, the 5-year survival following a diagnosis of osteosarcoma, when treated with surgery alone was in the order of 20 %. With the advent of adjuvant chemotherapy, long-term survival of around 60% can be expected. In addition, the use of pre-operative or neo-adjuvant chemotherapy has allowed the increasing use of limb sparing surgery. This is reliant, however, on the recognition and early referral of those patients suspected of having a primary sarcoma of bone to a specialist centre, where a multidisciplinary team of radiologist, histopathologist, oncologist and surgeon are able to plan individual patient treatment.
