Survival in our patient cohort tended to be at the lower end of the spectrum reported by other contemporary treatment centers of excellence or Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results databases probably because of the large number of African American patients with associated poor socioeconomic status. Future studies should be conducted to explore biological and nonbiological factors that may affect the prognosis in this disease.
The increasing use of serial multimodality imaging in the management of pediatric osteosarcoma raises concern of over exposure to ionizing radiation in children, especially from repeated computed tomographic (CT) scans. This study reviews the utilization of multimodality imaging in patients with osteosarcoma at our institution and analyzes any potential radiation-related complications. Twenty-eight patients were identified. Three patients developed late complications-acute myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome, and early menopause. Using the patient's age and body part imaged, CT dose length product and effective dose was estimated with the use of a conversion factor for 19 patients. The effective doses were higher in the 3 patients with late complications than the other patients in the cohort (P=0.018). These results suggest an increased risk for adverse effects with higher CT exposures and effective doses. On the basis of our data and published data, methods to decrease the doses of radiation from medical imaging need to be explored. The number of CT scans may be limited. Implementing the Image Gently concept to decrease radiation exposure can be beneficial in modification of CT acquisition parameters.
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