Allograft transplantation and shoulder replacement in management of proximal humeral osteosarcoma: A case report

Background: Restoring and preserving the arm function in patients’ with osteosarcoma is a big concern and the surgeons always aim to improve the quality of the patients’ life.

Case presentation: A 16-year-old female patient had no special medical record history. She had felt pain in the upper arm for 2 weeks before hospitalization, the pain increased when resting and swollen the area of the proximal humerus. The patient had no history of trauma. X-rays and CT images of the patient’s arm indicate a tumor in the shaft and proximal humerus (on the left side). The biopsy result confirmed the diagnosis: sarcoma of the proximal humerus. We decided to change the surgical method, did not use the shoulder disarticulation as usual. The patient was assigned to widely resect the tumor and proximal humerus allograft-prosthetic composite reconstruction to preserve arm function

Conclusion: Short-term results after surgery have shown that is a reasonable treatment to preserve the function of the arm. However, careful consideration should be made about the factors that affect the outcome of the treatment to avoid recurrence of the tumor.