Principles of long-term medication for osteosarcoma

Osteosarcoma can cause discomfort in patients' lives. Many patients have tried a lot of treatments, but the treatment results are not satisfactory. This is related to the patient's constitution and the treatment method chosen by the patient. Therefore, osteosarcoma patients should use medication correctly, which will affect the treatment effect. So what are the principles of long-term medication for osteosarcoma?

Treatment principles

The treatment of osteosarcoma emphasizes early comprehensive treatment, mainly surgery and chemotherapy. If the diagnosis is clear and there is no lung metastasis, high amputation or joint amputation should be performed, followed by chemotherapy. Amputation and lung metastasis resection can be performed at the same time for patients with a single lung metastasis. Radiotherapy is not sensitive to osteosarcoma and is only used as an adjuvant treatment before and after surgery, or when the tumor cannot be removed or has lung metastasis.

Medication principles

Osteosarcoma is mainly treated with a combination of treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Since the 1970s, high-dose chemotherapy has become popular and is used before and after surgery, greatly improving the cure rate of osteosarcoma, with a five-year survival rate of more than 50%. Chemotherapy is often used in the following situations: (1) as an adjuvant therapy for surgery; (2) when certain parts of the body cannot be radically operated on; (3) as a palliative therapy in the late stage; and (4) when the patient refuses surgery. Commonly used chemotherapy drugs advocate the combined use of two or more drugs, and attention should be paid to ensuring a large urine volume and alkalinizing the urine to reduce kidney toxicity.

If neoadjuvant chemotherapy cannot achieve tumor necrosis, postponing surgical treatment will affect the survival rate, because when chemotherapy is ineffective, the tumor will continue to reproduce and microscopic lesions in the lungs will develop. When chemotherapy is effective, postponing radical surgery for the tumor will not jeopardize the survival rate. Preoperative chemotherapy can increase the success rate of limb salvage.