Osteosarcoma - Childhood

Doctors are working to learn more about osteosarcoma, how to best treat it, and how to provide the best care to people diagnosed with this disease. The following areas of research may include new options for patients through clinical trials. Always talk with your child’s doctor about the diagnostic and treatment options best for your child.

Improved detection. Two types of imaging tests are being studied that may improve the detection of metastases: total body MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning (see Diagnosis). These tests can suggest the presence of metastatic disease, although other tests will be needed to confirm this suspicion. Specialists familiar with using these tests must interpret the results of the images. A biopsy may also be needed.

Supportive care. Clinical trials are underway to find better ways of reducing symptoms and side effects of current osteosarcoma treatments in order to improve patients’ comfort and quality of life.

Improved treatment. In several studies, researchers are looking at adding different drugs to standard treatment that may improve the treatment’s success without increasing the side effects.  

For example, a study based at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and several other sites examined the addition of a drug that interferes with new blood vessel formation, bevacizumab (Avastin), in combination with chemotherapy. Bevacizumab is a type of targeted therapy, a treatment that targets the cancer’s specific genes, proteins, or the tissue environment that contributes to cancer growth and survival. This study ended recently, and the results are not yet known.

In one recently closed study (Children’s Oncology Group study AOST 0331), pegylated interferon alpha was added after eight months of chemotherapy for patients with localized osteosarcoma or metastases to the lungs or bones that can be surgically removed, and whose tumor was almost completely eliminated by the initial 10-12 weeks of chemotherapy treatment.

Ifosfamide and etoposide are added to treatment after surgery for a total of ten months of treatment instead of the standard eight months for patients with osteosarcoma that did not respond as well to initial treatment. The results of this study are not yet known.

In another study (Children’s Oncology Group study AOST 0221) for patients with osteosarcoma that has recurred in the lungs only, researchers looked for a way to give an immune system stimulant called GM-CSF by inhalation to slow the development of other osteosarcoma tumors in the lungs. This study has been completed. Unfortunately, it was not effective in increasing the time to the next recurrence of osteosarcoma.

A study for patients with initially metastatic disease has also recently been completed. It included a bone-stabilizing drug called zoledronic acid (Zometa) added to standard chemotherapy. It showed that the combination did not increase general side effects, which was the goal of the study. A French group is also studying zoledronic acid for newly diagnosed patients with osteosarcoma to see if the addition of zoledronic acid improves the outcome of patients who receive it. Half of the patients will receive a standard chemotherapy treatment and surgery, and the other half will also receive zoledronic acid.

For information about these and other studies, visit the Children’s Oncology Group website. There are clinical trials using new drugs for patients with recurrent osteosarcoma—whether the cancer has come back a first, second, or subsequent time; whether the recurrence is local or distant; and whether the recurrence is located in the lungs, other bones, or both.

Talk with your child’s doctor for more information about clinical trials. Your doctor can provide additional details concerning the availability of these diagnostic tests or treatments, or others that are being studied. Also, your doctor can provide details on whether they are appropriate for your child.

Learn more about common statistical terms used in cancer research.

Looking for More about Current Research?

If you would like additional information about the latest areas of research regarding osteosarcoma, explore these related items:

• To find clinical trials specific to your diagnosis, talk with your child’s doctor or search online clinical trial databases now.
• Visit ASCO’s CancerProgress.Net website to learn more about the historical pace of research for childhood cancer.

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