Primary chemotherapy and delayed surgery for non-metastatic telangiectatic osteosarcoma of the extremities. Results in 28 patients.

28 patients with telangiectatic osteogenic sarcoma of the extremities were treated between March 1983 and March 1990 with neoadjuvant chemotherapy according to two different protocols activated successively. With the first protocol, patients preoperatively received high dose methotrexate (HDMTX)-cisplatinum (CDP) and postoperatively, depending on the histological response, either HDMTX-CDP-doxorubicin (ADM) or ADM-"BCD". With the second protocol patients were preoperatively treated with HDMTX-CDP-ADM and postoperatively either with the same drugs or with the same drugs plus ifosfamide and VP-16. Preoperatively, CDP was delivered intraarterially. A good histological response (tumour necrosis > 90%) was observed in 25 patients (89%) and at a mean follow-up of 5 years (2-9 years) 23 patients (82%) remained continuously disease-free and 5 developed lung metastases. These results are better than those obtained in 272 contemporary cases of conventional osteosarcoma of the extremities treated with the same protocols (62% good histological responses and 61% continuously disease-free survival).