The impact of pathological fractures on surgery, morbidity, functional and oncological outcomes in patients with primary bone sarcomas.

Background Although rare, pathological fractures may occur in primary bone sarcomas. There have been studies reporting that such patients have a poorer prognosis than those without a pathological fracture. This study investigates the impact of pathological fractures on surgery, morbidity, functional and oncological outcomes in patients with primary bone sarcomas. Patients and methods A retrospective analysis of 568 patients with primary bone sarcomas, treated between 2005 and 2019, was performed. The study included 41 patients with a pathological fracture and 51 control patients who did not have a pathological fracture. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to investigate the impact of pathological fractures and further independent variables on amount of intraoperative bleeding, duration of surgery, number of muscles and major neurovascular structures included in resection, tumor volume, surgical volume, Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) functional score, postoperative complication rate, and local recurrence, distant metastasis, and survival rates. Results There were 36 (39%) female and 56 (61%) male patients. No statistically significant difference was noted in tumor volume, tumor/surgical volume percentage, number of major neurovascular structures included in resection, postoperative complication rate, and local recurrence, distant metastasis, and survival rates between the two groups (p > 0.05). A significantly higher amount of intraoperative bleeding and number of transfused blood components, a longer duration of surgery, and a higher amount surgical volume and number of resected muscles were detected in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (p=0.001, p=0.002, p=0.007, p=0.007, p < 0.001, respectively). The MSTS functional scores were lower in patients with a pathological fracture than in those without a pathological fracture (p=0.001). Conclusion We conclude that a pathological fracture through a primary bone sarcoma has no adverse effect on prognostic factors such as local recurrence, distant metastasis, and survival. However, pathological fractures increase the amount of intraoperative bleeding and surgical volume and result in a longer surgery, in addition to decreased functional outcomes.