Osteosarcoma near joints: Assessment and implications

Abstract

Background: The choice of performing surgery when tumors encroach onto joints remains a challenging and controversial issue. Pre-operative assessment by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is of critical importance in dictating surgical management and subsequent functional outcome. Methods: We examined archival samples from 27 patients with osteosarcoma, adjacent to synovial joints for the incidence and mechanism of osteosarcoma extension into the joint space. Histopathologic findings were correlated with pre-operative MRI findings and choice of operation. Results: There was no evidence of penetration across the entire thickness of articular cartilage into the joint cavity in all of the 27 case..