Influence of pre-operative computerized tomography on the results of surgical treatment of secondary chondrosarcomas arising on osteochondromas: a retrospective sequential cohort study

Purpose: Computerized tomography (CT) is routinely used for diagnosis of secondary chondrosarcomas arising on osteochondromas but its actual influence on the surgical treatment is unknown. We hypothesized that pre-operative CT helped to lower the incidence of death, local recurrence, and post-operative complications after surgical treatment of secondary chondrosarcomas. Methods: We conducted a single center retrospective analysis on a cohort of patients treated before and after systematic utilization of pre-operative CT. We included 26 cases of secondary chondrosarcoma arising on osteochondromas (21 cases of multiple exostoses and 5 cases of a solitary exostosis) among 24 patients (10 females and 14 males, mean age of 34.5 years) at a mean follow-up of 12 years. Fourteen cases were operated on before and 12 after beginning systematic utilization of CT. We compared the two groups with a Student’s t test regarding the rates of death, recurrence, and post-operative complications. Results: We reported a lower rate of death and recurrences in the group with pre-operative CT, but the differences were not statistically significant. Conclusion: Despite the retrospective design and the low number of patients in this study, systematic pre-operative CT helped to improve the results of the surgical treatment of secondary chondrosarcomas arising on osteochondromas.