Thirty-three osteosarcomas (OS) were analyzed cytogenetically. Clonal
chromosome changes were detected in 17 cases. Six tumors had chromosom
e numbers in the diploid range, 6 in the triploid range, 1 in the tetr
aploid range and 1 in the pentaploid range, while 3 tumors had multipl
e clones with different ploidy levels. Including the present 17 tumors
, a total of 27 OS with clonal aberrations have been reported. The rec
ognizable structural rearrangements in these 27 tumors clustered to ch
romosome arms 1p, 1q, 3p, 3q, 7q, 11p, 17p and 22q. Chromosome bands 1
q11, 1q21, 1q42 and 7q11 were the most frequently rearranged, and the
most common numerical rearrangements were -3, -10, -13 and -15. Supern
umerary ring chromosomes, in 2 tumors as the sole change, were found i
n all 3 parosteal OS, which is in agreement with the findings in 1 pre
viously reported parosteal OS. The association between ring formation
and parosteal morphology represents the first cytogenetic-morphologic
entity among OS. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.