Alcohol Devitalization and Replantation for Primary Malignant Bone Tumors of the Knee Joint

BACKGROUND: This paper is aimed at studying the therapeutic effects of in situ replantation of alcohol-devitalized bone segments to treat malignant bone tumors of the knee joint. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data for 45 patients from January 2013 to January 2016 who underwent replantation following alcohol-devitalization of bone segments and 40 who underwent prosthesis implantation. The two groups were comparable in basal clinical biometric data, including gender, age, tumor type and location, Enneking staging, and maximum tumor diameter. Radical tumor resection was combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy following the two-implantation procedures. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 25 months, and the outcomes were compared. We found no differences in the length of bone lesions, surgery time, intraoperative blood loss, amount of postoperative drainage, and perioperative complications, which were just three for each method. We also found no significant differences in limb function scores, internal fixation imaging scores, tumor-free survival rate, and overall survival rate between the two groups. Replantation following alcohol-devitalization of tumor-bearing bone segment demonstrated similar clinical outcomes compared with prosthesis implantation in the treatment of primary malignant bone tumors of the knee joint. CONCLUSION: Both therapies enjoy good application safety and effectiveness. Because alcohol devitalization is inexpensive and easy to apply in the clinic, it should be considered a preferred method in the treatment of bone tumors.