The multiinstitutional osteosarcoma study (MIOS), a randomized trial of adjuvant therapy for osteosarcoma with a concurrent control group, registered 113 patients from June 1982 to August 1984. Preliminary analysis of the study indicated a significant event-free survival advantage favoring immediate adjuvant chemotherapy, (P less than .001). For patients treated with surgery alone or with surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, the lungs were involved in more than 80% of the relapses. Patients relapsing after surgery alone tended to relapse earlier (P less than .01), had more pulmonary nodules (P less than .01), and had more frequent bilateral pulmonary involvement (P less than .01) than those treated with immediate postsurgical adjuvant chemotherapy. However, patients relapsing after treatment with surgery alone experienced a significantly longer interval to further disease progression (P less than .01) and improved survival after relapse (P = .01) when compared with patients who relapsed after treatment with immediate adjuvant chemotherapy. The only factor predictive of survival after relapse was if the patient could be made surgically disease-free after initial relapse (P = .03).

The Multi-Institutional Osteosarcoma Study (MIOS) was designed to determine whether intensive multiagent adjuvant chemotherapy improves the outcome of patients with nonmetastatic high-grade osteosarcoma of the extremity as compared with concurrent controls. After definitive surgery of the primary tumor, patients were randomly assigned to immediate adjuvant chemotherapy or to observation without adjuvant treatment. Updated results of this trial indicate that the projected six-year event-free survival for the control group is 11% compared to 61% for the chemotherapy group (p less than 0.001). Similar results were observed in patients who declined randomization but who were followed according to the treatment arms of the protocol. When randomized and nonrandomized patients are pooled according to assigned treatment, a survival advantage favoring those patients treated with immediate adjuvant chemotherapy is apparent. An analysis of prognostic factors among patients receiving immediate adjuvant chemotherapy reveals that elevation of the serum lactic dehydrogenase at diagnosis is the factor most predictive of adverse outcome. Location of the primary site in the tibia confers a favorable prognosis. The authors conclude that the natural history of high-grade osteosarcoma of the extremity has not changed over the past two decades. The administration of immediate adjuvant chemotherapy has a significant favorable impact on event-free survival and should be recommended for all such patients.