Osteosarcoma among children aged 5 years or younger: the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital experience.

Osteosarcoma primarily affects adolescents. The authors reviewed the records of eight patients aged 5 years or younger (of 470 patients with osteosarcoma) treated at their institution. Tumors (seven of high grade and one of low grade) arose mostly in the appendicular skeleton; one patient had metastases. One patient with low-grade osteosarcoma survived after surgery alone. Two with active disease died of chemotherapy toxicity. The remaining five (three received chemotherapy) underwent surgery and are long-term survivors. Two who underwent hemipelvectomy or hip disarticulation would likely have undergone limb-sparing surgery today. These findings and a review of the similar cases in the literature suggest that osteosarcoma's clinical characteristics are similar among young children and older children.