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Speaker: Future of musculoskeletal oncology is tied directly to its past
Improvements in radiology, chemotherapy, imaging and surgical techniques since the 1970s have facilitated better patient outcomes and survival rates related to musculoskeletal oncology, according to a presentation that Pietro Ruggieri, MD, PhD, gave at the EFORT Congress, here.
He said future advancements in the field will depend on what was explored by such pioneers as Mario Campanacci, MD, Henry J. Mankin, MD, and William F. Enneking, MD, in musculoskeletal surgery; Gerald Rosen, MD, Gaetano Bacci, MD, Steven A. Rosenberg, MD, in chemotherapy protocols; and Erwin Morscher, MD, in musculoskeletal research, for whom Ruggieri’s lecture is named.
“We all know that the best prophet of the future is the past, as was said by Lord Byron,” Ruggieri told Orthopaedics Today Europe. “So the key to seeing what is in the future are the advancements that were done by past scientists in the chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical fields. The importance of multicentric studies and international cooperation is the future of this field. This is something that I wanted to translate to our pupils and the younger doctors of the future,” according to Ruggieri, who discussed these topics during the EFORT Erwin Morscher Honorary Lecture.
In recent years, advancements in radiotherapy, chemotherapy, imaging and surgery have drastically improved the long-term outcomes for patients with musculoskeletal tumors. However, in the 1970s, when a patient had tumor within the musculoskeletal system, amputation was the number one procedure for dealing with such tumors.
With ongoing improvements in all of these fields, Ruggieri said the treatments for these tumors have drastically changed.
“With the introduction of chemotherapy in the 1970s, the survival rate increased. The percentages for these treatments and outcomes completely switched,” he said. “The amputation rate decreased dramatically. It was 80% to 90% in these patients, but then dropped to 10%. The limb salvage jumped up to 90% percent or more in patients.”
Even within the past decade improvements in imaging have yielded advanced treatment options for patients with musculoskeletal tumors. Biopsies performed with the help of MRI, CT scans and navigational imaging tools, have also made the procedures to address these tumors much more precise, Ruggieri said.
Concerning future advancements in the field of musculoskeletal oncology, Ruggieri said many new approaches will likely stem from multicentric studies and international departments, universities and labs that work together.
“The importance of a multicentric cooperative study cannot be forgotten. These studies and the research done in them are the real keys to progress in both new techniques, procedures and new prostheses,” Ruggieri said.
- Info:
- Ruggieri P. Progresses of musculoskeletal oncology in the last decades and future perspectives. Presented at: 15th EFORT Congress – a combined programme in partnership with the BOA; 4-6 June, 2014; London
Disclosure: Ruggieri has no relevant financial disclosures.