Is limb salvage surgery a contra indication in pathological fractures secondary to osteosarcoma? Do we know the answer?

Introduction: Primary bone and soft tissue sarcomas are rare tumours. Osteosarcoma is the commonest primary bone tumour with a bimodal age distribution and with a reported incidence of 2-3 per million population per year [1, 2]. With advances in chemotherapy, the survivorship of patients with osteosarcoma has improved significantly with various studies revealing similar results with limb salvage surgery when compared with amputation [5]. Contra indications to limb salvage surgery may include involvement of the neurovascular bundle, joint involvement, progression of disease whilst on treatment, patient choice, infection and a pathological fracture (Figure 1). A pathological fractureassociated with osteosarcoma at presentation or during treatment is even rarer with a reported incidence of 5-10% [3, 4].A pathological fracture can be the mode of presentation for osteosarcomas in certain cases whereas it can occur during treatment in others. This is generally considered to be an aggressive biological behaviour of the disease which in turn, historically, has been considered as a poor prognostic factor in the outcome of this special group of patients [6].