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REVIEW article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Oncology in Veterinary Medicine

This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancements and Challenges in Veterinary Oncology - Volume IIView all 3 articles

Surgical Approaches to Canine Appendicular Osteosarcoma Part 2 – Limb-sparing techniques

Provisionally accepted
Ryshely Sonaly De Moura Sonaly De Moura BorgesRyshely Sonaly De Moura Sonaly De Moura Borges1Paloma Helena Sanches da SilvaPaloma Helena Sanches da Silva1Pedro Antônio Bronhara PimentelPedro Antônio Bronhara Pimentel1Renato Pereira DornasRenato Pereira Dornas1Angel AlmendrosAngel Almendros2*Antonio GiulianoAntonio Giuliano3Rodrigo dos Santos HortaRodrigo dos Santos Horta1Paulo Vinícius Tertuliano MarinhoPaulo Vinícius Tertuliano Marinho4*
  • 1Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Departamento de Clinica e Cirurgia Veterinarias, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
  • 2City University of Hong Kong Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 3Harvest Veterinary Oncology Center, Kwai Fung Cres, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, Kwai Chung, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 4Instituto Federal de Educacao Ciencia e Tecnologia do Sul de Minas Gerais - Campus Muzambinho, Muzambinho, Brazil

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Osteosarcoma (OSA) is one of the main malignant primary bone neoplasms affecting humans and other vertebrate animals, and it represents the most common bone tumor in dogs, mainly affecting the appendicular skeleton. Given the highly aggressive nature of this cancer and the poor prognosis, immediate surgical intervention is recommended to achieve local control. Surgical treatment options may include radical surgery of the affected limb, considered the standard procedure, or limb preservation in selected cases. The purpose of this narrative literature review is to describe the limb-sparing techniques performed in the treatment of canine appendicular OSA. Limb-preserving techniques may include partial or total scapulectomy, excision of the bone segment with the tumor, and reconstruction using cortical allografts or metal endoprosthesis. Other options may involve endoexoprosthesis, pausterized tumor autografts, roll-over transposition of the ulna, limb shortening, and distraction due to bone transport. Those techniques are satisfactory in maintaining quality of life and may offer a good local disease control if the patient is properly selected, usually at initial stage.

Keywords: Appendicular skeleton, bone tumor, oncological surgery, oncology, Surgical anatomy

Received: 28 Jun 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Borges, da Silva, Bronhara Pimentel, Dornas, Almendros, Giuliano, Horta and Marinho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence:
Angel Almendros, aalmendr@cityu.edu.hk
Paulo Vinícius Tertuliano Marinho, paulo.marinho@muz.ifsuldeminas.edu.br

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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