Stature and malignant tumors of bone in childhood and adolescence

Children from birth to 18 years of age who were admitted to the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston with osteogenic sarcoma were found to be significantly taller at the time of diagnosis than a hospital-control group of children with non-osseous cancers. Children with Ewing's sarcoma were also significantly taller than controls, but to a lesser degree than those with osteogenic sarcoma. These findings are consistent with the known high risk of canine bone sarcoma among larger breeds of dogs, and the demographic observations on human bone cancer which suggest that the origin of at least some of these tumors is a function of skeletal growth rates during childhood and adolescence.