Aim: To review the prognosis of Pelvic Osteosarcoma in the files of the Scottish Bone Tumour Registry between 1955 and 2001.

Text: The cases of 40 consecutive patients with osteosarcoma of the pelvic ossea registered in the files of the Scottish Bone Tumour Registry between 1955 and 2001 were reviewed. 6 of these patients had underlying Paget’s disease and 2 had received previous radiotherapy to the pelvis. The median age at diagnosis was 60 years (mean 55.7 years). 12 patients had distant metastases at initial presentation (Enneking stage III). 24 patients had stage IIB ostesarcomas, 3 patients had stage IIA osteosarcomas and 1 patient had stage IB osteosarcoma. The median survival of stage IIB and stage III ostesarcoma was 9.5 months (1–39 months) and 5.5 months (0.5–16 months) respectively. The median age of survival for stage IIB tumours treated prior to the introduction of chemotherapy was 9 months (1–30 months) compared to those whose treatment included chemotherapy of 12 months (4–39 months). 5 of the 40 patients treatment regimens included surgical intervention- all had stage IIB tumours. The median survival for this group was 13 months (4–39 months).

Conclusion: Despite the introduction of modern multimodality treatment regimens the prognosis for pelvic osteosarcoma remains poor.