Mandibular osteosarcoma: Diagnosis and treatment

Purpose of review: This article presents a review of the literature on mandibular osteosarcoma, focusing on the main aspects of its management, including diagnosis, histotype, and treatment. The literature published in the last 5 years was considered but because of the rarity of mandibular osteosarcoma, major publications from the past have also been included. Recent findings: Management of mandibular osteosarcoma still lacks a clear standard of care, and treatment has not changed markedly over the past several years. The mainstay of treatment is surgical resection with free margins, but chemotherapy has recently begun to play a role in both adjuvant and neoadjuvant settings. Summary: Mandibular osteosarcoma is a rare tumor and extensive randomized trials are not available in the international literature. Therefore, the standard of care is not defined, and diagnosis and treatment protocols have been extrapolated from analysis of multiple reports that are often discordant. This makes an interdisciplinary approach mandatory for the management of these patients, to provide the best care possible based on tumor size, site, and patient characteristics.