An individual patient data meta‐analysis on the effect of chemotherapy on survival in patients with craniofacial osteosarcoma

Chemotherapy improves the survival of patients with long bone osteosarcomas. However, the benefits of chemotherapy in the treatment of craniofacial osteosarcoma (CFOS) are still controversial. We searched PubMed and EMBASE from February 1997 to December 2016 to identify studies on CFOS. The individual patient data of these studies were pooled into a meta‐analysis. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were performed. Thirteen studies with a total of 184 patients met our inclusion criteria. Positive resection margin was a poor prognostic factor for CFOS in the univariate and multivariate survival analyses. Chemotherapy improved overall survival (OS) and disease‐specific survival (DSS) in patients with CFOS who had tumors in the maxilla, positive resection margins, or high‐grade tumors. Patients with local tumor recurrence had better OS and DSS when treated with chemotherapy. Chemotherapy improves survival in patients with CFOS with adverse factors, such as tumors with positive margins, high‐grade tumors, and recurrent tumors.