Back to abstracts
Back to abstracts
ABSTRACT
Background
Osteosarcoma (OS) is a malignant tumour of the bone characterized by osteoid tissue deposition, with a multifactorial aetiopathogenesis. It commonly affects children, adolescents and the elderly. Osteosarcoma patients still experience significant morbidity and mortality worldwide due to lack of tailored therapeutic breakthroughs since the introduction of chemotherapy. This study aimed to provide insights and understanding of the complex clinicopathological characteristics of OS for improved patient management strategies.
Method
This was a descriptive retrospective review of all pre-diagnosed archival OS cases from the Department of Anatomical Pathology, National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) between January 2019 and December 2023. All samples with an OS diagnosis were analysed in the study. Analysis and interpretation of collected demographic and clinicopathological data was done using Microsoft excel spreadsheet and STATA v18.
Result
Thirty samples met the inclusion criteria and were analysed. The mean age was 17.5 ± 8.32 with a 70% male predominance. The majority of patients presented with a mass in the limb 76.67%(n=23); OS tumour site and age group association showed a common manifestation on the femur bone at 36.67%(n=11), and these were represented by the adolescent age group. The most common subtype of OS was conventional (n=19/30; 64%), and majority of these cases were osteoblastic (n=10/30; 34%) followed by chondroblastic (n=8/30; 27%) and fibroblastic (n=1/30; 3%).
Conclusion
Osteosarcoma was more prevalent in adolescents, with a notable male predominance. The femur was the common site of manifestation and conventional OS was the most common histopathological subtype. The results presented in this study provide credence to the idea that cellular alterations, rather than external or environmental stimuli, may be the cause of OS in this study population.