[Evaluation of adjuvant chemotherapy of osteosarcoma with special reference to adriamycin (final report)].

Adjuvant chemotherapy mainly with ADR performed in 117 patients (pts) with primary osteosarcoma of the extremity for the purpose of preventing pulmonary metastasis after radical ablative surgery. The mean follow-up period for 117 pts was 51.7 months (range: 3 to 137), for 53 survivors, 90.

[Rationale of preoperative chemotherapy of osteosarcoma].

The rationale of preoperative chemotherapy for osteosarcoma requires: eradication of microscopic metastatic foci which have already occurred in many patients with osteosarcoma, determination of a more effective form of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy and easier and safer limb-salvage procedures through clearer marginal definition with reduction of primary lesions. In this paper, chemotherapeutic effects on the 5-year survival rate were analyzed for 49 patients with primary non-metastatic osteosarcoma of the extremities treated with radical surgery. The efficacy of preoperative chemotherapy was assessed in 11 cases of osteosarcomas treated with systemic chemotherapy as a preliminary study.

[Osteoporotic changes in rheumatoid arthritis].

Bone mineral density (BMD) in the distal 1/6 and 1/3 sites of the radius was measured by single photon absorptiometry in 58 female patients with rheumatoid arthritis, not treated with corticosteroids. Half of the patients showed lower values of BMD than those (mean--1SD) of age-matched controls. BMD decreased more significantly with advancement of destructive changes of radiocarpal joint in postmenopausal patients.

[Preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy of skeletal and soft tissue sarcomas].

Preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for skeletal and soft tissue sarcomas requires: (1) correct identification of the effective postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, (2) eradication of any of the micrometastatic foci that may have already occurred in many of the patients with these sarcomas, (3) easier and safer limb-salvage procedure, being clearly defined, with shrinkage of the primary lesion. For this purpose, a preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy regimen making practical use of intra-arterial CDDP (cis-dichlorodiammineplatinum II) infusion is desired in multi-drug combined chemotherapeutic treatment, including HDMTX (high-dose methotrexate), ADR (adriamycin) and CDDP. In this paper, the clinical application of preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy to skeletal and soft tissue sarcomas with combination of HDMTX and CDDP is presented in the light of the observations of tumor response to these anticancer agents, and the possibility of to establishing a new preoperative adjuvant protocol is discussed.

[Adjuvant chemotherapy for osteosarcoma in Japan--past, present and future].

The therapeutic results for osteosarcoma were very discouraging before 1970 in Japan despite many modes of treatment. In 1960, Miki introduced the regional perfusion technique into the treatment of osteosarcoma, and in 1963, Akaboshi pioneered the intraarterial infusion technique. By these methods, a five-year survival rate about 30% was achieved during the period from 1971 to 1976.