A multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of malignant pelvic bone tumors: results with eight consecutive patients

The prognosis for malignant pelvic bone tumors is worse than that for malignant bone tumors of the extremities because definitive surgery in the pelvis is often difficult to accomplish. The results for eight patients who were treated consecutively with a multidisciplinary approach, from 1990, were analyzed. The histologic diagnosis was osteosarcoma in five patients, chondrosarcoma in two, and Ewing's sarcoma in one. Five lesions arose in the ilium and three in the pubis. The extraosseous tumors decreased in size and/or were encapsulated as a result of preoperative chemotherapy in six patients, four of these achieving a wide surgical margin. With respect to tumor location and surgical margin, all five lesions in the ilium involved the sacrum, four of these being resected with an inadequate margin. The three lesions in the pubis were resected with an adequate margin. Local recurrence was observed in two patients who had been treated with an inappropriate margin. During the period between 18 and 57 months after the first operation, five patients were continuously free of disease and one was still alive but had lung metastases. Our results indicate that a patient's chances of definitive surgery may be enhanced by a multidisciplinary approach, although the management of sacroiliac involvement remains challenging. Received: October 4, 1999 / Accepted: March 16, 2000