Impact of Postoperative Infection on Lower Limb Function After Surgery for Malignant Bone and Soft Tissue Tumors: Data from a Nationwide Registry in Japan.

BACKGROUND

Due to the scarcity of cases, adjustments for confounding factors in analyses of the effects of postoperative infections on limb function after surgery for malignant bone and soft tissue tumors were insufficient in previous studies. One solution is to use big data from a nationwide registry.

METHODS

Data from the Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor Registry in Japan were used to examine the impact of postoperative infections on limb function after surgery for malignant bone and soft tissue tumors in the lower extremities. Limb function was evaluated using the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) score.

RESULTS

A total of 1099 soft tissue tumors and 410 bone tumor cases were included. Propensity score matching (PSM) was performed using significant factors in the propensity score logistic regression. After PSM, only "function" and "emotional acceptance" scores worsened in infection cases in the bone tumor group, while total MSTS scores remained unaffected in both the bone and soft tissue tumor groups. No subcategory scores worsened in the soft tissue tumor group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that postoperative infections might not affect function in cases of soft tissue tumors and have only a limited impact in cases of bone tumors.