What is the likelihood of nonpulmonary metastasis occurring in the absence of lung metastasis in bone and soft tissue sarcoma? A nested case-control from a sarcoma referral centre.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Nonpulmonary metastases (NPM) are rare, associated with a poorer prognosis, and maybe missed on conventional chest imaging for sarcoma surveillance. We determined (1) the proportion of NPM occurring in isolation or with synchronous or prior pulmonary metastases (PM), and (2) if initial NPM would have been recognized with a standard surveillance protocol. METHODS: Investigators identified patients who developed initial NPM without prior evidence of or concurrent PM from an ongoing cohort of bone and soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients. Logistic regression at univariate level was done. RESULTS: There were 138/630 (22%) patients with metastasis and 66 (10%) had NPM: 50 (8%) patients had PM presenting first, while 16 (3%) had initial NPM. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor, angiosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, and myxoid liposarcoma were six times more likely to develop initial NPM than other subtypes of STS with odds ratio = 6 (95% confidence interval: 1.93-18.65, p value < 0.01). Chest imaging and physical examination were sufficient to identify NPM in all except three bone sarcoma patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who develop initial NPM are rare and demonstrate a predilection towards some subtypes of extremity sarcoma. They develop oligometastatic disease, which may be amenable for surgical excision. All isolated or initial NPM in STS patients were discovered by physical examination and standard chest imaging.

Is local recurrence in bone and soft tissue sarcomas just a local recurrence or does it impact the overall survival, retrospective cohort from a sarcoma referral center.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Sarcoma local recurrence (LR) is often associated with metastasis, but it is unclear if LR can be a causal event leading to metastasis. We question if LR is best viewed as an independent oncologic event or as a worrisome harbinger threatening a patient's overall survival. METHODS: We identified patients with LR and/or metastasis from an ongoing cohort of 629 patients with primary sarcoma and performed a detailed review to assess the timing of metastasis resulting in the following groups: (1) Isolated LR, (2) LR before metastasis, (3) LR within 6 months of metastasis, (4) LR 6-12 months after metastasis, (5) LR >12 months after metastasis, and (6) metastasis at diagnosis. RESULTS: Overall, 43 patients met the inclusion criteria with an LR rate of 7%. Ten patients (2% of the entire cohort, 23% of LR) developed an LR before or within 6 months of metastasis. For patients without systemic disease preceding LR, 3 of 23 soft tissue sarcoma STS (13%) and 7 of 10 bone sarcoma (70%) subsequently developed metastasis (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: LR with subsequent metastasis is a rare event. LR appears to be best viewed as a marker of tumor aggressiveness rather than the cause of metastasis and poor survival. LR in bone sarcoma patients should warn providers of a high risk of imminent metastasis.

Pain Catastrophizing, Kinesiophobia, Stress, Depression, and Poor Resiliency Are Associated With Pain and Dysfunction in the Hip Preservation Population.

Background: Psychiatric disorders are known to have a negative impact on outcomes attained from hip-preservation surgery. Psychosocial traits such as resiliency and pain avoidance likely also affect treatment outcomes, however these characteristics are less easily identified, and data is lacking supporting their presence and impact on related outcomes within the hip preservation population. We therefore evaluated hip preservation patients for a variety of maladaptive psychosocial traits and assessed patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in order to ascertain which specific traits were most associated with hip pain and dysfunction. Methods: 62 subjects aged 15-49 years presenting for evaluation of a nonarthritic hip condition completed psychosocial questionnaires and patient reported outcome measures via electronic survey as listed in table one. Participants were tested again eight weeks later to evaluate the relationship between changes in physical function, pain, and mental health behaviors. Pearson correlation coefficients assessed association between hip PROs and psychosocial tests and analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons. Results: Pain Catastrophizing (PCS), Kinesiophobia (TSK), Stress, and PROMIS-Global Mental Health (GMH) scores correlated with poor physical function and high pain scores at zero and eight weeks. Low resiliency (BRS) and depression were also associated with elevated pain on PRO tests as well as HOOS-Physical Function. There was a moderately strong correlation between improvement in PROMIS-Physical Function (PF) from zero to eight weeks and subjects initial scores for kinesiophobia, anxiety, and stress (r= -0.45, -0.41, -0.44, all p<0.05). Conclusion: PCS, TSK, Stress, Depression, and low BRS are associated with pain and disability in hip preservation subjects. Elevated TSK, Anxiety and Stress may be predictors of failure to improve with nonoperative treatment. These psychosocial characteristics should be investigated further as predictors of clinical outcomes in the hip preservation population. Level of Evidence: II.

Abnormal Femoral Anteversion Is Associated With the Development of Hip Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PURPOSE: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of literature and to evaluate the relationship between abnormal femoral version and the development of hip osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: A systematic review was performed following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, evaluating Level I and II studies. Included studies had to provide granular femoral version (FV) information. The severity of OA was ranked on the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) scale. Excel version 1808 (Microsoft, Redmond, WA) was used to perform a student t test statistical analyses. RESULTS: Our review identified 19 qualifying studies-5 Level I and 14 Level II with 1,756 patients. Patients with FV above normal range (>14°) had greater KL scores than patients with normal range FV (mean ± standard deviation; 3.37 ± 1.44 vs 2.05 ± 1.72, P < .05). Analysis of KL scores in patients with FV >24° (>1 standard deviation) versus patients with FV >14° but <24° also demonstrated a positive correlation between increasing FV and KL (4.00 ± 1.96 vs 2.34 ± 0). This was significant independent of the presence or absence of developmental dysplasia of the hip. Retroverted hips (FV<10°) in the present study showed variable OA results upon analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The present review suggests that elevated FV may be a risk factor for more severe hip OA with or without the presence of concurrent dysplasia of the hip. The relative amount of increased anteversion appears positively correlated with severity of OA. Although femoral retroversion may impact hip mechanics, in this review it does not appear to strongly correlate with the development of OA. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II: systematic review of Level I and II studies.