Sarcoma associated with bone infarct is a rare condition sparsely reported in the literature. Sixty percent of cases arise about the knee and most are malignant fibrous histiocytomas. We report 15 patients; 12 of 15 presented with a tumor around the knee. Treatment was limb salvage in seven patients, amputation in six, and biopsy alone in two. For patients without metastatic disease at presentation, the 2-year disease-free survival rate was 63% (seven of 11). Two patients received chemotherapy and both were continuously disease-free at last followup. When we combined our 15 patients with the 52 previously reported in the literature, 38 of the 67 (57%) died of their disease at an average of 19.2 months after diagnosis; 21 patients (31%) were continuously disease-free for 24 months. Of 13 patients who received chemotherapy, eight (62%) were continuously disease-free at 24 months compared with 24% (13 of 54) of those who did not receive chemotherapy. Overall, prognosis for these patients is poor, but survival in patients without metastatic disease at diagnosis approaches that of other bone sarcomas. There is a trend suggesting adjuvant chemotherapy combined with appropriate surgery may improve patient outcomes.
Level of evidence: Level IV, therapeutic study.