Background: Osteosarcoma or “osteogenic sarcoma” is the most common neoplasm of the bone in children and young adults. This research is premised upon a citation analysis of the top 100 most-cited articles on osteosarcoma. Materials and Methods: This research is dependent upon the use of SCOPUS database. Using the search strategy “osteosarcoma” on this database yielded 12,107 articles. After filtering for relevant articles, the top 100 most-cited articles were retrieved for descriptive and statistical analysis. Results: The most-cited paper was “A human DNA segment with properties of the gene that predisposes to retinoblastoma and osteosarcoma” by Friend and colleagues published in 1986 with 1888 citations. The publication years ranged from 1967 to 2014. The United States was the most productive country in terms of research output, followed by Italy. Institution-wise, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre contributed the most articles. However, the most prolific author was from Italy. Majority of the publications were level IV studies Conclusions: Although citation analysis is not entirely flawless, this is a comprehensive list of the top 100 most-cited articles significantly impacting osteosarcoma knowledge and research over time. Future studies need to cater toward maximizing high-quality evidenced articles.

Background and ObjectivesHepatic resection is an excellent option in the care of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Elderly patients often forego hepatic resection in favor of liver‐directed ablative therapies due to the increased likelihood of adverse postoperative outcomes due to age. We sought to determine long‐term outcomes in patients who underwent hepatic resection compared to liver‐directed ablative therapy in this patient population.MethodsWe queried the National Cancer Database for elderly patients (≥70 years) diagnosed with HCC between 2004 and 2018. The primary outcome was overall survival (OS) computed using the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazard regression.ResultsA total of 10 032 patients were included in this analysis. On unadjusted analysis (p < 0.001) as well as multivariable analysis (hazard ratio: 0.65, 95% confidence interval: 0.57–0.73), hepatic resection was associated with improved OS. The protective association between hepatic resection and OS persisted after 1:1 propensity score matching.ConclusionsHepatic resection is associated with improved survival for well‐selected elderly patients with HCC. While age is often thought of as influencing the decision to offer surgery, our study, in combination with others, demonstrates that it should not. Instead, other objective indicators of performance and functional status may be considered.

Background: Though arteriovenous grafts (AVG) mature more reliably than arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) and require fewer maturation procedures (MP) to obtain functional patency, AVG are thought to have worse function after maturation. We explored differences in post-maturation outcomes between the following groups: AVF patients who did (AS-AVF) and did not (unAS-AVF) require assisted maturation and AVG patients who did (AS-AVG) and did not (unAS-AVG) require assisted maturation. Methods: Using the US Renal Data System (2012–2017), we retrospectively identified patients who initiated dialysis with a central venous catheter, underwent AVF or AVG placement and achieved successful two-needle cannulation. Primary patency and access abandonment after maturation were compared across groups using competing risks regression methods, generating sub-hazards ratios (sHR). Results: We identified 42,664 AVF and 12,335 AVG that met inclusion criteria. A larger proportion of AVFs required interventions: 18,408 AVF (43.2%) versus 2594 AVG (21.0%; p < 0.01). Both AS-AVG and AS-AVF patients experienced patency loss at 1 year more frequently compared with unAS-AVG (67.5% & 57.5% vs 55.2% respectively). Patency loss was lowest in unAS-AVF (38.9%). These trends were robust on adjusted analysis (unAS-AVG reference, AS-AVG sHR = 1.44, p < 0.01; AS-AVF sHR = 1.08, p < 0.01, unAS-AVF sHR = 0.67, p < 0.01). AS-AVGs were more likely to be abandoned than unAS-AVGs (11.7% unAS-AVG vs 17.2% AS-AVG). Fistulae, assisted or not, had lower unadjusted rates of 1-year abandonment than grafts (8.9% AS-AVF vs 7.3% unAS-AVF). On adjusted analysis, AVF usage was protective against abandonment (unAS-AVG, reference; AS-AVF sHR = 0.67, p < 0.01; unAS-AVF sHR = 0.59, p < 0.01) while AS-AVG was not (AS-AVG sHR = 1.32, p < 0.01). Conclusions: unAS-AVF have the best long-term outcomes. AS-AVF lose primary patency at a higher rate than unAS-AVG. AVGs may be a better choice than AVFs if veins are marginal and likely to require assisted maturation. Further research is needed to identify anatomic and physiologic factors that affect long-term performance and influence conduit choice.

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