BACKGROUND:Currently, limb salvage therapy has become the standard treatment of malignant bone tumors way, but improper treatments wil result in tumor recurrence, secondary infection, internal fixation or prosthesis loosening.
OBJECTIVE:Based on the traditional surgical principle for metastatic bone tumors of the limbs, this study designed a user-friendly, individualized, simplistic pal iative treatment regimen from the actual conditions of patients to observe the reasonability, clinical efficacy and prognosis of bone cement fil ing combined with internal fixation in the treatment of metastatic malignant bone tumors.
METHODS:Thirty-one patients with metastatic malignant bone tumors who required salvage treatment were screened from the Department of Orthopedics, the 421 Hospital of Chinese PLA, and their clinical data were retrospectively analyzed. Al the 31 patients were divided into two groups:tumor removal+internal fixation group (non-chemoradiotherapy group, n=11) treated with bone cement fil ing plus plate internal fixation (pal iative
treatment);tumor removal+internal fixation+chemoradiotherapy group (chemoradiotherapy group, n=20), treated with radiotherapy before internal fixation plus plate internal fixation with limb salvage. The fol ow-up period was 4-38 months, averagely 18 months.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The fol ow-up results showed that in the non-chemoradiotherapy group, al the 11 patients survived, who could live independently and have good motor functions;in the chemoradiotherapy
group, 17 of the 20 patients survived and the rest three patients died of tumor metastasis, their poor conditions and complications at 9 and 13 months after internal fixation. In patients undergoing tumor removal+plate internal fixation with limb salvage, the integrated scores for nerve and motor functions were increased by more than
level 1. These findings confirm that a simple pal iative therapy of bone cement fil ing and internal fixation without chemoradiotherapy is better for metastatic malignant bone tumors patients who require limb salvage.