Osteogenic sarcoma of the skull. A clinicopathologic study of 19 patients

Abstract

The authors studied 19 patients with well documented osteogenic sarcomas arising in the skull, which represent 1.6% of all osteogenic sarcomas registered during a 60-year period (1921-1981). Ten sarcomas were primary, de novo tumors. Nine others developed secondary osteogenic sarcomas; among these, six arose as a complication of Paget's disease, two followed irradiation, and one was associated with pre-existent fibrous dysplasia. The sarcomas arose in equal proportion in both sexes with the men being much older (mean age, 44 years) as compared to the women (mean age, 31 years). Patients with de novo osteogenic sarcomas were considerably younger than those with secondary lesions. Osteoblastic osteogenic sarcoma was by far the most common histologic variant in both the primary and the Paget's sarcomas. None of the patients with Paget's sarcoma lived longer than 1 year; the median survival here was 4 months. Patients with de novo osteogenic sarcomas fared much better and there are four long-term survivors (longer than 3 years) who are currently disease-free.