Interferon-α as the only adjuvant treatment in high-grade osteosarcoma: Long term results of the Karolinska Hospital series

Figures & data

Table I.  Characteristics of patients receiving adjuvant interferon-α in Stockholm between 1971 and 1990.

		all	1971–1984	1985–1990
patients		89	70	19
age	median (years)	17 (5–74)	16 (5–74)	23 (11–50)
sex	male	55	44	11
	female	34	26	8
localization	extremity	82	67	15
	non-extremity	7	3	4
largest tumor extension	median (cm)	8 (2–20)	9 (2–20)	7 (5–11)
histology	osteoblastic	49	45	4
	non-osteoblastic	29	25	4
surgery	resection	37	28	9
	amputation	52	42	10
margins	intralesional	10	8	2
	marginal or better	79	62	17

Figure 1. Sarcoma specific survival (SSS) and metastasis free survival (MFS) in 89 interferon-treated patients.

Figure 2. Sarcoma specific survival for two treatment periods, 1971–1984 (n = 70) and 1985–1990 (n = 19) (log rank p = 0.1).

Table II.  Univariate analysis of prognostic factors.

	number	SSS (%)*	95%CI	p **
Age
< 16 y	43	47	31–62	0,64
> 16 y	46	41	26–56
Sex
male	55	35	22–48	0,03
female	34	58	41–74
Localisation
extremity	82	41	30–52	0,23
nonextremity	7	71	38–100
Largest tumour diameter
< 8 cm	32	50	33–68	0,16
> 8 cm	56	39	26–52
Histology
osteoblastic	49	41	26–55	0,66
non-osteoblastic	29	45	27–64
Surgery
resection	37	50	33–66	0,41
amputation	52	39	26–53
Margins
intralesional	10	10	0–29	0,1
marginal or better	79	48	37–60
Cohort
1971–1984	70	38	27–50	0,10
1985–1990	19	63	41–85

(* Sarcoma specific survival at 10 years; **log rank).

Table III.  Cox proportional hazards model based on sarcoma specific survival at 10 years of 88 patients (one patient with incomplete data is excluded).

	Number	p	HR	95% CI*
Male sex	54	0,04	1,93	1,02–3,64
Tumour diameter > 8 cm	56	0,10	1,60	0,90–3,13
Intralesional margins	10	0,01	2,41	1,24–5,49
Interferon-dose 1971–1984	70	0,26	1,67	0,71–3,58

*Confidence Interval.