Treatment of malignant bone tumor: limb salvage surgery using metallic tumor prosthesis

Recently, most bone cancers have shown a dismal prognosis even though they were managed with amputation. In the 1970s, anticancer drugs began to be used for bone tumor treatment as adjuvant agents, with the hope of survival improvement, while keeping the limb preserved. The 5-year survival of osteosarcoma patients increased up to 70% with anticancer chemotherapy and limb-salvage surgery. Limb salvage surgery includes all surgical procedures performed to accomplish resection of a malignant bone tumor and reconstruction of the skeletal system with an acceptable oncological and functional outcome. Currently, surgeons can choose a variety of reconstruction methods, including osteoarticular allograft, allograft-prosthesis composite, and metallic tumor endoprosthesis. However, complication rates are still high. The advancement of implant technology, adjuvant chemotherapy, and radiologic imaging modality has contributed to the evolution of limb salvage surgery. Nevertheless, there are still many barriers that have yet to be addressed to move further.

Medical Care Utilization Behavior for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Spine Disease: A Questionnairebased Study of Orthopaedic Spine Center Outpatients at a Tertiary Educational Hospital

Objectives@#The purpose of our study was to investigate medical care utilization behavior and the conceptions of disease treatment among spine disease patients.Summary of Literature Review: Analyzing the medical care utilization behavior and conceptions of disease treatment among spine disease patients is important. @*Materials and Methods@#A survey was administered to 500 first-time patients who visited the spine center of a tertiary educational hospital from May 2017 to August 2019. @*Results@#A total of 479 valid responses were analyzed. A minority of patients (16.1%) visited the tertiary educational hospital without having previously visited a private hospital. Spinal procedures and surgery were considered negatively by 52.6% of respondents, and 14.8% of patients reported negative perceptions of orthopedic drugs. @*Conclusions@#Extensive efforts will be required to improve unreasonable medical utilization behavior by changing patients’ incorrect knowledge and beliefs about hospitals, diseases, and treatments.