Abstract
Chondrosarcoma is the second most common bone tumour and occurs in the third to sixth decades of life. It most commonly arises in the pelvis and proximal femur.
We performed a clinical, operative and histological review of all patients seen at our unit with chondro-sarcoma of the pelvis over a ten-year period. We iden-tified 36 cases of chondrosarcoma of the pelvis and a retrospective analysis of cases was performed examining the rate of tumour recurrence and mortality rate with respect to tumour grade, anatomical site and type of surgery performed.
25 patients had a primary tumour diagnosed, 6 tumours were secondary to MHE and the remaining 5 were recurrent tumours. The tumours were situated in the acetabulum (14), the pubic / ischial rami (7), and the iliac wing (15). Surgical procedures included wide local excision (18), wide local excision and total hip arthroplasty (4), hemipelvectomy and endoprosthesis (13), and hind quarter amputation (1). The median follow up period was 48 months.
10 year cumulative survival rate was 40% and poor survival was associated with iliac tumours and higher grade tumours. Mean time to recurrence was 18.5 months and cumulative 10 year recurrence rates were 44%. Increased recurrence was associated with iliac and rami tumours and those excised by local resection alone. High tumour grade was not associated with increased recurrence in our study. The overall surgical complication rate of the operative procedures was 27%. These included dislocation and infection of prosthesis. Conclusions: This disease continues to be a surgical challenge with a clear association between more radical surgery and low tumour recurrence rates. However this must be balanced against the potentially devastating complications associated with this major reconstructive surgery.
The abstracts were prepared by Mr Simon Donell. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Department of Orthopaedics, Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, Level 4, Centre Block, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UY, United Kingdom.
