Osteogenic Sarcoma: Advances in Treatment

achieved in the treatment of osteogenic sarcoma.A maximum of 20 percentof patientswere cured by amputation. There was no effective systemic treat ment. This article presents some of the major advances in the management of osteogenic sarcoma during the past four years. Osteogenic sarcoma may be divided into three stages: primary tumor, micro metastases and overt metastatic disease. (Table I.) Patients in the primary tumor stage have, in the past, generally been treated by amputation. In the absence of systemic treatment, 80-90 percent of pa tients in the micrometastatic stage, that is those with subclinical disease, re lapsed three to 12 months after control of the primary tumor. Patients with overt metastatic disease, the third stage, usu ally develop progressive respiratory fail ure and die at a median of six months following the appearance of overt pul