Primary osteosarcoma of the distal femur in two consecutive brothers

The following report describes two consecutive brothers from a nonimmigrant family, with no identifiable predisposing factors, who presented with oste osarcomas of their distal femurs, one at the age of 18 years and the other at the age of 21 years. Until a cost-effective program is developed to scre en for osteosarcoma, a detailed family history should be obtained from ever y new patient with osteosarcoma and parents should be urged to schedule ear ly evaluations of siblings with complaints of painful extremities. Increase d frequency of cytogenetic studies to screen for genetic abnormalities in p atients with osteosarcoma is recommended to help elucidate the cause of ost eosarcoma.