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High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation with melphalan, etoposide and carboplatin for high-risk osteosarcoma

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 50, pages 1375–1378 (2015)Cite this article

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Osteosarcoma is a rare disease but in the adolescent period is the third most common type of cancer.1 When surgery was the sole treatment option, the survival rate of patients with osteosarcoma was <20%, but with the introduction of adjuvant and neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, the survival rate of patients with osteosarcoma of the extremities improved markedly to 60–70%.1, 2 Nonetheless, the outcomes remain poor for patients with tumor necrosis <90% after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, metastasis, progression on therapy or relapse.3 In the literature, the survival rate of patients who respond poorly to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy is 35–45%, that of those with metastatic disease is 24% and that of those with relapsed disease is 18%.4, 5, 6

At our institute, high-risk osteosarcoma is defined as the presence of one or more of the following factors: tumor necrosis <90% after neo-adjuvant chemotherapy, metastasis, progression on therapy or relapse. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 19 patients with high-risk osteosarcoma who underwent high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with melphalan, etoposide and carboplatin (MEC) at Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, between March 2006 and March 2013. Informed consent was received from all patients and/or their legal guardians, and the institutional review board (IRB) at Seoul National University Hospital approved this retrospective review (IRB number: H-1308-081-513).

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grant no. 03-2013-0170 from SNUH Research Fund and grant no. 14172MFDS178 from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2014. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    C R Hong, H J Kang, M S Kim, H Y Ju, J W Lee, H Kim, K D Park, J D Park, H Y Shin & H S Ahn

  2. Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Children’s Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    C R Hong, H J Kang, H Y Ju, J W Lee, H Kim, K D Park, H Y Shin & H S Ahn

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    H-S Kim

  4. Department of Pathology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    S-H Park

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  1. C R Hong
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Correspondence to H J Kang.

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Hong, C., Kang, H., Kim, M. et al. High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation with melphalan, etoposide and carboplatin for high-risk osteosarcoma. Bone Marrow Transplant 50, 1375–1378 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2015.145

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