A population-based propensity-matched study of regional dissections in patients with metastatic osteosarcoma

BACKGROUND: The survival rates of patients with metastatic osteosarcoma are poor, and the prognosis is closely related to the choice of treatment, especially surgery. This study aimed to evaluate the survival outcomes of patients with metastatic osteosarcoma undergoing regional dissections. METHODS: We collected data on patients with metastatic osteosarcoma between 2004 and 2014 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Kaplan–Meier curves were used to compare overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS), while univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate outcomes. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to minimize the effects of confounding factors. RESULTS: The SEER database had records of 2768 patients diagnosed with osteosarcoma, of whom 398 were included in our study. Of the included patients, 116 (29.15%) underwent regional dissections, while 282 (70.85%) underwent non-regional dissections. The univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses, prior to PSM, showed that OS (hazard ratio (HR): 0.34, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.26–0.44, P<0.001 and HR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.35–0.64, P<0.001, respectively) and CSS (HR: 0.33, 95% CI: 0.25–0.43, P<0.001 and HR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.34–0.63, P<0.001, respectively) were better in patients who underwent regional dissections than those who underwent non-regional dissections. Compared with non-regional dissections, regional dissections, which included both primary tumour resection (PTR) and primary tumour and metastatic site resection (PTMR), were associated with better OS (P<0.001) and CSS (P<0.001) . However, the survival outcomes following PTR and PTMR showed no significant difference. After PSM, patients in the regional dissection group still had a higher OS (P<0.001) and CSS (P<0.001) than those in the non-regional dissection group. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with non-regional dissection, regional dissection resulted in better survival in patients with metastatic osteosarcoma.