2010, Volume 3, Issue 4, pp 444 – 448

Forequarter amputation (upper limb and shoulder girdle) in a synovial sarcoma case–case report

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Authors and Affiliations

Correspondence to:Silviu Marinescu, Clinic of Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Microsurgery, ‘Bagdasar–Arseni’ Clinical Emergency Hospital, 10–12 Berceni Street, District 4, Bucharest, Romania

Abstract

We are often confronted with severe cases–patients with very aggressive tumours that suppose a complex and in the same time radical approach–in our medical practice. The correct approach and management of such cases ensure both the surgical success and the patient survival. In this paper, we present the case of a young woman, who has been admitted in our clinic with a giant, irradiated tumour involving left axilla, shoulder and scapula. Due to the vast size of the tumour and to the fact that surgical biopsy revealed a poorly differentiated sarcoma; other clinics considered that the case above belongs to surgical therapy. After the clinical examination, blood tests and diagnostic imaging, which allowed the correct evaluation of the case–tumour sizes and neighbouring tissue reports–we decided to perform tumour radical excision, respectively forequarter amputation, when the patient presented a satisfactory metabolic status. The presented case supports the idea that radical excision which might involve even mutilating amputations for extensive cancers can give patients a chance, even in desperate cases.

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About this article

PMC ID: 3019080
PubMed ID: 21254746
DOI: 

Article Publishing Date (print): 15-11-2010
Available Online: 25-11-2010

Journal information

ISSN Printing: 1844-122X
ISSN Online: 1844-3117
Journal Title: Journal of Medicine and Life

Copyright License: Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.


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