Osteosarcoma — Surgery With Endoprosthesis Implantation: treatment in the Best Hospitals in the World

Sarcoma of the femur is a dangerous high-grade tumor, but the clinics in developed countries can successfully cure it in most patients. The most important stage of the treatment is surgery. The tumor is completely removed. The obtained bone tissue defect is usually replaced by a endoprosthesis in order to preserve limb function and restore the patient's working capacity after surgery.

How is the treatment carried out?

The standard treatment for sarcoma of the femur at any stage where surgery is possible is as follows:

1. Diagnostic surgery. It can be performed to obtain a small sample of the tumor, which is sent for histological examination. This surgical intervention is performed so that the doctor can make sure that the detected formation is indeed a malignant tumor. In addition, it is important to determine the histological type to understand whether chemotherapy is required before the surgical treatment of sarcoma of the femur. It is not performed for low-grade osteosarcoma.
2. Chemotherapy. It can be performed only in high-grade oncological process. This is the majority of clinical cases, since mildly aggressive osteosarcomas are rare. The course of chemotherapy lasts 10 weeks before the doctor can begin operative therapy. This is required to reduce the size of the sarcoma of the femur and destroy the cancer cells, which could have spread in the body.
3. Radical operation. It can be performed to remove the neoplasm. It is important to remove it completely, indenting from the edge and capturing the healthy tissues. The doctor strives to find the perfect balance in removing as less healthy tissues as possible, thereby avoiding significant functional impairments, but still indenting to keep a sufficient distance in order to minimize the risk of tumor recurrence.
4. Rehabilitation. It is required for the restoration of the function of the operated limb, if it is preserved (sometimes the sarcoma of the femur is treated by means of leg amputation). Without rehabilitation measures, a person will completely lose his working capacity. The rehabilitation begins literally from the first days after the operation. Depending on the amount of performed intervention, the patient's age and ambitions, it can set different goals. On average, the rehabilitation process for the restoration of the ability to self-care lasts up to 6 months, whereas the rehabilitation for the recovery of working capacity takes 12 months or more. At the advanced stages of rehabilitation, the patient should develop professional skills and complex movements, which require neuromuscular coordination.

What types of operations can be performed?

The treatment of osteosarcoma does not have standard approaches to surgical tactics. These tumors have different sizes, with different location, they grow into different tissues (nerves, tendons, large vessels, etc.). Therefore, each clinical case is unique. It requires the extensive experience and years of proven skills from the surgeon.

There are two main surgical approaches to the treatment of femoral sarcoma:

1. Amputation.
2. Organ-preserving operation.

Amputation is technically simpler and gives a better chance of complete cure, but leads to disability, and therefore it is less preferred. Whenever possible, the doctors of the best foreign Orthopedic Centers strive to preserve a limb. Thus, they only remove the tumor with the indentation towards healthy tissues, but not the entire leg.

The operation always results in a bone defect. It can be replaced in one of the following two ways:

1. Transplantation of another bone from the donor area.
2. Implantation of a endoprosthesis.

In osteosarcoma with location on the femur, a tissue defect can be quite extensive. Therefore, tumor endoprostheses are often applied. These are "artificial bones" which are embedded and grow into the adjacent bone tissue of a patient. Based on the characteristics of the defect, they have the necessary shape.

Operation results

Osteosarcoma is one of the most malignant tumors, which can occur in the human body. Given this fact, the treatment results of this disease can be considered as very successful. In developed countries, the overall five-year patient survival rate reaches 60%. It is the highest at the localized stage – 77%.

The chances of curing the disease by means of surgical techniques are very high. Such results became possible due to the following measures:

• early onset of symptoms – the bones in the osteosarcoma area begin to hurt, the patient visits the clinic and the tumor is detected at the initial stage;
• high-quality operations – the doctors of the best clinics in the world perform surgical intervention so as to preserve the maximum possible volume of bone tissue, but completely remove the tumor;
• additional treatment methods – at least this is chemotherapy, sometimes radiation therapy can be applied as well. 

The surgery will be followed by the examination for the presence of tumor cells of the resection margins. Should they be detected, this will be the reason for repeated surgery or a course of radiation therapy.

The worst survival rate is at the advanced stage of osteosarcoma, when distant metastases occur. Within 5 years after the establishment of the diagnosis in developed countries, 27% of patients are still alive, but even such results are much better than in many other types of malignant tumors, in which five-year survival may not exceed 5%.

Osteosarcoma can be radically treated even at the advanced stage, which gives a real chance of complete recovery. If the primary tumor is resectable, and the metastatic foci are single and not large, they can be removed. The subsequent long-term chemotherapy reduces the risk of relapse by means of destroying tumor cells throughout the body.

Treatment in the best clinics in the world with the Booking Health company

To undergo surgical treatment of sarcoma of the femur, you can contact one of the best foreign clinics. The Booking Health company will help you to organize your trip. We provide the following services and benefits:

• Selection of the best Orthopedic Center, whose doctors specialize in the surgical treatment of osteosarcoma.
• Reduced costs for medical procedures. Your savings will be up to 50% of the total cost of the program due to the absence of coefficients and overpricing for foreign patients.
• Booking the appointment on the most suitable dates for you.
• Preparation of a treatment program for sarcoma of the femur, taking into account previously performed examinations.
• Establishment of communication with the specialists of the clinic.
• Monitoring of the program at all its stages.
• Control of invoices and return of unspent funds.
• Buying and forwarding of medicines.
• Organization of additional diagnostic, therapeutic procedures or rehabilitation.
• Communication with the clinic upon the treatment completion.

The Booking Health company provides top-class services. We will book a room at a hotel and airline tickets for you, meet you at the airport and take you to the hotel or medical facility.