Distal femoral osteoarticular allografts: long-term survival, but frequent complications.

Background: Complications are frequent with osteoarticular allografts, and their long-term survivorship in the distal femur is unclear. Thus, the benefits of osteoarticular allografting remain controversial.

Questions/purposes: We therefore determined the frequency of complications in osteoarticular allografts of the distal femur relative to their potential long-term survival.

The current practice of orthopaedic oncology in North America.

Background: The field of orthopaedic oncology in North America has been formalized over the past 30 years with the development of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) and fellowship education opportunities.

Questions/purposes: To characterize current practices we assessed the fellowship education, practice setting, constitution of clinical practice, bone and soft tissue sarcoma treatment volume, perceived challenges and rewards of the career, and the nonclinical activities of orthopaedic oncologists.

Methods: Members of the MSTS and attendees of the 2009 AAOS-MSTS Specialty Day meeting were invited to participate in a twenty-three question online survey.

History of orthopedic oncology in the United States: progress from the past, prospects for the future.

Orthopedic oncology in the United States has its roots in European medicine of the 1800s in which sarcomas were first classified on the basis of their gross characteristics (1804) and amended on the basis of their histologic features (1867). Surgical management, local excision, with unacceptable mortality gave way to amputation in the 1870s and remained so, until limb-sparing resection was cautiously embarked upon in the mid 1900s. Nonsurgical adjuvant was first devised in the 1880s (as Coley's toxins) but remained largely ineffective until the advent of chemotherapy in the 1970s.

The management of adult soft tissue sarcomas.

Soft tissue sarcomas are a relatively rare, heterogeneous group of tumors arising from mesenchymal tissues and occurring almost anywhere in the body. The rate of progression and likelihood of hematogenous dissemination, usually to the lung, is determined primarily by tumor grade. The likelihood of regional spread is low.

Effects of a new allograft processing procedure on graft healing in a canine model: a preliminary study.

Graft healing in vivo can be affected by allograft processing. We asked whether a new processing technique influenced graft-host healing compared with autograft and a standard processing technique in a canine ulna model. We used bilateral intercalary allografts or autografts in the ulna of 13 skeletally mature male coonhounds.