Osteosarcoma of the Jaws in Adult Patients: A Clinic Opathological Study of 14 Patients

Osteosarcoma of the jaw is a rare disease and there is limited knowledge about prognostic parameters and optimal treatment modality. We aimed to analyze outcomes and prognostic parameters of our patients. Clinicopathological records and treatment outcomes the 14 adult's patients with osteosarcoma of the jaws, identified and treated from August 1997 to August 2011, were analyzed retrospectively. Seven patients were male and 7 were female; median age was 27.5 (range: 17-52 years). Twelve patients (86%) had high grade tumor, most common histopathological type was chondroblastic (45%). No patient had distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Of the 12 patients (85.7%) who underwent surgery, only 1 patient received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 8 patients received adjuvant chemotherapy 10 patients (83.3%) received adjuvant radiotherapy. Median Overall Survival (OS) was 46.5 months. In nonparametric analysis, high serum Lactate Dehydrogenase (LDH) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) levels were negatively correlated with OS (r = -0.73, p = 0.004; r = -0.71, p = 0.006 respectively). In regression analysis, the increase in death risk was 1.7 times for the patients with high ALP level (not significant statistically, p = 0.11), 2.5 times for the patients with recurrent disease (p = 0.002). Our study revealed that high baseline LDH and ALP levels might have negative effect on survival in jaws osteosarcoma patients and presence of recurrent disease independently increased risk of death. Due to rarity of this disease, previously reported case series may incorporate in a study to make definite conclusions.