Clinical outcome of central conventional chondrosarcoma

Introduction Aim of this study was to analyze (1) survival, local recurrence (LR), and metastasis rates between the three histological tumor grades; (2) whether type of treatment and tumor site influenced prognosis for each histologic grade. Methods We retrospectively studied 296 patients with central conventional chondrosarcomas (CS) (87 grade 1, 162 grade 2, and 47 grade 3). The femur was the most common site (91 cases), followed by the pelvis (82) and other less frequent sites. Type of surgery was related with histologic grade. Margins were wide in 222 cases, marginal in 23, and intralesional in 51 cases. Results At a mean of 7 years, 201 patients remained continuously NED, 33 were NED after treatment of relapse, 15 were AWD, 35 were died of disease, and 12 of other causes. Survival was 92% at 5 years and 84% at 10 years, significantly influenced by histological grading. In grade 3 CS, two factors influenced survival: type of surgery (resection vs. amputation, P = 0.051) and site (P = 0.039). The two significant factors lost their significance at multivariate analysis. Conclusion Central conventional CS with low/intermediate grade has a good prognosis, while high-grade tumors have poor outcome. Tumor relapses are strictly related with histologic grade.