Osteogenic sarcoma in the American black.

This clinicopathologic study of 100 American black patients with osteogenic sarcoma diagnosed and treated at this Medical Center from 1921-1979, inclusive, demonstrates a progressively increasing proportion of black patients admitted for this disease. The relative upsurge became especially pronounced in the 1970s. The ages of the patients ranged from 3 to 58 years (median, 16, mean 19.2 years). The age distribution shows that blacks, on the whole, are younger than whites when they develop these tumors, and this is particularly evident in the black girls. Skeletal locations for osteogenic sarcomas, in general, are similar in both races, except that the tibia and the fibula were involved significantly more frequently in the blacks while the humerus was afflicted less commonly. The clinical stage of disease on presentation, the duration of signs and symptoms, the histologic subclassification of the tumors, and the radiographic appearances closely matched in both races. The numbers of patients with Paget's sarcomas were also evenly distributed. Twenty-nine patients are currently alive with the 2-year and 5-year disease-free survival being 42% and 32%, respectively. There are no differences in the survival of black as compared to white patients, either for the entire duration of the study or for the period after 1974. The poorer prognosis of cancer in blacks does not apply to osteogenic sarcoma patients.