Progress in musculoskeletal oncology from 1922 – 2012

Since 1922 surgical approaches toward limb salvage in bone and soft tissue tumours have been documented. There is the famous “Umkippplastik” of Sauerbruch, the “Tikhoff-Linberg” inter-scapulo-thoracic resection or in 1943 a metallic tumour prosthesis for the hip joint in the United States (Moore, Bohlman). Since 1960 acrylic prostheses and metallic prosthesis with bone cement have been in use. Cement-free implants and the first modular ceramic prostheses were implanted in the 1970s in Vienna. At the same time successful chemotherapy in bone sarcomas was introduced by Gerald Rosen and Norman Jaffe. This was mainly the decade of custom-made prostheses. In the 1980s modular tumour prostheses with cone connection to be adopted to the needs of the patient were built intra-operatively. Since 1981 biannual international meetings (ISOLS) have pushed forward the field of bone tumour treatment to allow also tumour resection in wide borders for spine and pelvic tumours. New hope for resistant tumours could be monoclonal antibodies or even dendritic cell therapy.