Epidemiological Data for Common Bone Sarcomas

Abstract

Very little epidemiological data regarding bone sarcomas from South Asia in general and Pakistan in particularare available. At the largest center for histopathology in Pakistan, we looked at three common bone sarcomas inour practice i.e. osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and chondrosarcoma. Our aim was to compile epidemiologicaldata regarding age, gender and site distribution, and to correlate our findings with published western data inorder to determine whether there were any significant differences in our population compared to the west. Anoverwhelming majority of osteosarcomas in our study occurred in the second and third decades of life; theywere common in males; and femur, tibia and hip bone were the commonest bones involved accounting for anoverwhelming majority of cases. The large majority of Ewing’s Sarcomas in our study occurred in the first threedecades of life; they were more common in males; vertebrae, tibia, femur and hip bone were the commonestsites. In our study, chondrosarcomas showed a wide range of age distribution and occurred quite commonlyin the young. Except for the greater occurrence of chondrosarcoma in young patients; and comparatively lessfrequent involvement of upper limb bones, most of the bone sarcoma trends in our population appear to besimilar to published western data.

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