SKELETAL METASTASES FROM SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS - INCIDENCE, PATTERNS, AND RADIOLOGICAL FEATURES

We reviewed 277 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) treated betwee n 1975 and 1995 to study the incidence, distribution, time of appearan ce, and radiological findings of skeletal metastases. Of these, 28 (10 .1%) had metastases within a mean period of 18.6 months after admissio n. The incidence of skeletal metastases differed among the histologica l subtypes of sarcoma; alveolar soft-part sarcoma, dedifferentiated li posarcoma, angiosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma tended to show higher in cidences, The regional bones close to the primary tumour were affected in 13 (46.4%) of the 28 patients, and the axial bones in 18 (64.3%), Radiologically, the metastatic bony lesions predominantly showed osteo lytic changes, and there were pathological fractures in 21 of 44 lesio ns.