Osteosarcoma. Specimen management following primary chemotherapy.

The use of preoperative (i.e., primary) chemotherapy has been shown to be of direct and significant benefit to the osteosarcoma patient. There is virtually an immediate palliation of symptoms. Increasing numbers of patients with osteosarcoma involving bones of the appendicular skeleton are eligible for limb-salvage procedures secondary to the local effects of chemotherapy that result in a decrease in size and compaction (i.e., down-staging) of the tumors.