To determine whether delayed diagnosis (lapse from initial symptoms to the beginning of treatment) has influence on the possibilities of crossing the physis by the tumour, and/or on the outcome in pediatric patients with high grade metaphyseal osteosarcoma. The clinical records, image methods and the histology reports of 157 metaphyseal paediatric osteosarcomas were reviewed. The mean follow-up time was 102 months. Location, histological subtype, time from initial symptoms to start of treatment, major diameter, % of necrosis, physis crossed by the tumour or not, and outcome (recurrence, metastases and status) were recorded in a SPSS v15.0 file.Aim
Patients and methods
