1. To assess the safety of arterial embolization of musculoskeletal tumours prior to the surgery. 2. To assess technical success (embolization > 70% of feeding vessels) of musculoskeletal tumour embolization prior to surgery. 3. To assess the clinical success described by blood loss and need for blood products during and after surgery following embolization and to compare this with available literature.

Study population: This study was approved by our institutional review board, and the requirement for informed consent was waived. We retrospectively reviewed medical records, including radiology, histopathology, anaesthesia and surgical reports, of 12 patients who had undergone preoperative embolization of a musculoskeletal tumour followed by surgical intervention at our institution between June 2011 and July 2015. Indication for pre-operative embolization were determined by a single operating surgeon. Demographic data were collected from medical records (table1). Tumour characteristics: Diagnosis of tumour was confirmed by biopsy prior...

Table 1: Patient and tumour characteristics Case No Age (years) Sex Tumour Size (AP X CC X Transverse) cm Location 1 52 Female Metastatic thyroid follicular carcinoma 13x7.5x7.5 Left proximal femur 2 39 Male Spindle cell sarcoma 5.5X16X5.6cm Left groin/iliopsoas 3 33 Female Chondrosarcoma 12x9x3 cm Right iliac chondrosarcoma 4 20 Male Osteosarcoma 18x18x9 cm Left iliac bone osteosarcoma 5 24 Male Solitary fibrous tumour 6.9X5.8X9.4 Left infraspinatus muscle 6 66 Female Metastatic thyroid follicular carcinoma 9.6X13.2X9.4 Left femur 7 55 Female Metastatic liposarcoma 8.3X6.5X8.2...

Trans-arterial embolization of musculoskeletal tumours prior to the surgery is a safe procedure with high technical success with a potential to reduce blood loss during surgery.

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