The effect of inadvertent tumor contamination of wounds during the surgical resection of musculoskeletal neoplasms.

The effect of inadvertent tumor violation with visually evident wound contamination during the surgical resection of musculoskeletal neoplasms is unknown. In an attempt to assess the significance of wound contamination by tumor tissue, the incidence of local recurrence in 28 cases of known wound contamination was determined. The influence of immediate lavage, re-excision, subsequent surgical margin, and the use of adjuvant chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy upon local recurrence was assessed. Achieving a wide surgical margin by immediate re-excision after contamination gave a significantly lower incidence of recurrence than those with lesser final margins (P less than 0.01). The use of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy or irradiation resulted in a lower recurrence rate, but the difference between those with and without adjuvant treatment had statistically less significance than the surgical margin on the incidence of local recurrence (P less than 0.2). The risk of local recurrence after contamination was not influenced by the histologic grade of the tumor.