Surgical treatment of metastasic tumors to long bones in the material of the Unit

Background. Neoplasms of limbs are appear as primary of changes or as bone metastases.
Material and methods. In 1989-2002 due to neoplasms limbs 795 patients were hospitalised, of which 278 suffered from malignant metastases to bones. In this group, 242 patients with lesions localised within the femoral (169), humeral (55) and tibial (18) bones were identified. In 75% of patients pathological fractures were diagnosed, in the remaining ones the metastasis was manifested in the form of osteolytic lesion. In most cases early surgical treatment was performed to eliminate pain complaints, improve patient's physical mobility through restoration of limb functions and also to enable nursing care to be performed in palliative management. The choice of treatment method depended on: location of metastasis, degree of bone tissue destruction, type of primary tumour, progression of malignant process and technical resources. Within the long bones intramedullary nails (189) of different generations were implanted. In the proximal part of femoral bone various types of endoprostheses (65) were used, enabling oncological radicalism and early rehabilitation of the patients.
Results. Resection of bones with neoplasm-induced lesions, filling the lesion with bony cement and stabilisation with blocking nails permitted early rehabilitation of patients. In our material the most common malignancies inducing metastases were: breast, kidney, lung cancers and myeloma. Patients with these neoplasms constituted nearly 74% of all hospitalised subjects.
Conclusions. Necessity of systemic management and importance of early surgical treatment of metastases in specialized centres were underlined.