Prognostic Factors for Development of Subsequent Metastases in Localized Osteosarcoma: A Systematic Review and Identification of Literature Gaps

AIM: To investigate prognostic factors in pediatric and young adult patients with localized osteosarcoma that could predict the development of subsequent pulmonary metastases and lead to an ability to risk-stratify therapy. We performed a systematic review of the literature published since January 1990 to establish common evidence-based prognostic factors. METHODS: PubMed and Embase searches (Jan 1990–Aug 2018) were performed. Two reviewers independently selected papers for patients with localized osteosarcoma with subsequent metastatic development and then reviewed for quality of methods and prognostic factors. RESULTS: Database searches yielded 216 unique results. After screening, 27 full-text articles were studied in depth, with 9 items fulfilling predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Age, tumor location, tumor size/volume, and histologic response carried independent prognostic value in the majority of the studies. CONCLUSIONS: Several prognostic factors seemed to be consistent amongst the studies, but the heterogeneity and smaller sizes of the study populations made pooling of results difficult. Standardization of larger patient populations and consistent definitions/cutoffs for prognostic factors are needed to further assess for consistent prognostic factors and potential predictive models to be developed.