Radical surgical treatment in craniofacial osteosarcoma gives excellent survival. A retrospective cohort study of 14 patients

14 patients with an osteosarcoma of the craniofacial bones were evaluated retrospectively. 10 patients were males and 4 were females, ages varied from 10 to 74 years with a mean of 37 years. Ten tumours were located in the maxilla and four in the mandible. All patients underwent surgical resection of the tumour. One patient was irradiated postoperatively with 67.5 Gy and another patient received adjuvant chemotherapy with melphelan. Follow-up ranged from 6 months to 10 years with a mean of 4 years 2 months. Of 14 patients, 5 have died of local disease of whom 1 also had distant metastasis. Disease-free survival was 82.5% after 2 years and 68.8% after 5 years. Overall survival was 79.1% after 5 years. Univariate statistical analysis was carried out, revealing age < 35 years (P = 0.033) and radical surgery (P = 0.007) as statistically significant factors in disease-free survival. It is concluded that radical surgery in young patients with a craniofacial osteosarcoma gives long-term disease-free survival.