Neoplasm seeding in biopsy tract of the musculoskeletal system. A systematic review.

To identify, through a systematic literature review, the characteristics of neoplasm seeding in biopsy performed on the musculoskeletal system. We performed a search on PubMed, MEDLINE, LILACS and SciELO from August to October 2010. We included articles that addressed the neoplasm seeding in biopsy performed on the musculoskeletal system. The search was limited to English, Spanish and Portuguese as publication languages, but it was not limited by year of publication. We retrieved 2858 articles, but only seven were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Other four papers were found in the references of selected articles, totalizing 11 articles that were used to perform this systematic review. Issues may be raised in the literature: age and gender don't seem to influence the occurrence of neoplasm seeding; without resection of the biopsy tract, the possibility of local recurrence is very real; the influence of the type of tumor in the occurrence of neoplasm seeding is uncertain; it is impossible to conclude whether the closed biopsy technique has a lower chance of neoplasm seeding; it is likely that adjuvant chemotherapy has a protective effect against neoplasm seeding; an unfavorable prognosis is expected according to neoplasm seeding results.