Clinical outcomes of minimally invasive surgery using acridine orange for musculoskeletal sarcomas around the forearm, compared with conventional limb salvage surgery after wide resection.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We recently developed and established a new surgical therapy combining photodynamic surgery and radiodynamic therapy using acridine orange (AO) therapy after marginal or intralesional tumor resection, providing excellent limb function to sarcoma patients. The present study evaluated local recurrence rate and limb function using Disability of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score of patients with primary musculoskeletal sarcoma around the forearm treated with AO therapy, compared to that of patients treated with conventional wide resection.
METHODS: Subjects were 18 patients with primary musculoskeletal sarcoma around the forearm and treated with AO therapy (AO: n = 8) after marginal or intralesional resection, or conventional wide resection followed by limb reconstruction surgery (WR: n = 10).
RESULTS: Mean age of the 18 patients was 45 years, and mean durations of follow-up for Groups AO and WR were 67 and 74.1 months. Local recurrence rates for AO and WR were 12.5% and 20% (P = 0.63), DASH disability scores were 3.9 and 21 (P = 0.04), and 5-year survival rates were 100% and 90% (P = 0.40), respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: AO therapy offers maintenance of excellent upper limb function and inhibition of local tumor recurrence, representing a useful modality for limb salvage surgery in patients with sarcoma around the forearm. 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.