Osteosarcoma of the jaw: Report of four cases

This paper reports four cases of osteosarcoma of the jaw, a rare malignant bone tumor in the oral and maxillofacial region. Two patients were males and two were females. The age at the first visit ranged 55–69 years (average age, 63.8 years). Three and one patients had a tumor in the mandible and the maxilla, respectively. One mandibular patient had a history of radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer. Radiologically, two cases were of the osteolytic type, and two were of the osteosclerotic type. Two cases of the osteolytic type were diagnosed as malignant tumors, while the other two cases of the osteosclerotic type were as benign lesions (e.g., epulis osteoplastica and osteomyelitis). Pathologically, three and one cases were classified as conventional (osteoblastic type) and secondary (radiation-induced) osteosarcomas, respectively. All patients underwent surgical tumor resection without any adjunctive treatments. Consequently, one patient had no recurrence for 14 years after surgical treatment and the other three had local recurrence and/or distant metastasis, resulting in unfavorable outcomes despite further treatments. Osteosarcoma should be included as a differential diagnosis for bone-forming lesions of the jaw. Furthermore, complete surgical resection combined with adjuvant therapies would be necessary to improve the treatment outcome of jaw osteosarcomas.