Osteosarcomas de la región de cabeza y cuello

background: less than 10% of osteosarcomas are located the head and neck region, mainly affecting the mandible and maxillary region. aim: to analyze the therapeutic modality, types of reconstruction, surgical complications and survival of patients treated for osteosarcoma of the head and neck. material and methods: review of medical records of 12 patients aged 17 to 34 years (6 women) treated for osteosarcoma of the head and neck between september 1998 and may 2009. results: the localization of the tumor was maxillary in eight, mandibular three and ethmoidal in one patient. according to histologic grade, seven tumors were grade 1, four were grade 2 and one was grade 3. adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy were administered to all and seven patients, respectively. the surgical treatment for maxillary tumors was maxillectomy. a reconstruction with rectum abdomini free flap was done in four patients and with dermoepidermic graft and an obturator prosthesis in three. in one patient, the defect was covered with a dental prosthesis. treatment for mandibular tumors was mandibular excision. a reconstruction with peroneal free flap was performed in two patients and with an iliac crest graft in one. the ethmoidal tumor was resected and covered with local flaps. there were four complications. two patients had a cutaneous fistula, one patient had a free flap partial atrophy and one patient had surgical site infection. two patients who had positive margins died from local recurrence. of the 10 patients with negative margins, seven are alive without recurrence, one died due to the disease, one has disseminated disease and one died from another cause. conclusions: our results in the treatment of head and neck osteosarcomas are consistent with published data.