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Background: Metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients have a poor prognosis with a 3-year survival rate of 25%. About 30% of them present lung metastases (LM). This study aimed to construct 2 nomograms to predict the risk of LM and overall survival of STS patients with LM. Materials and Methods: The data of patients were derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database during the period of 2010 to 2015. Logistic and Cox analysis was performed to determine the independent risk factors and prognostic factors of STS patients with LM, respectively. Afterward, 2 nomograms were, respectively, established based on these factors. The performance of the developed nomogram was evaluated with receiver operating characteristic curves, area under the curve (AUC) calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: A total of 7643 patients with STS were included in this study. The independent predictors of LM in first-diagnosed STS patients were N stage, grade, histologic type, and tumor size. The independent prognostic factors for STS patients with LM were age, N stage, surgery, and chemotherapy. The AUCs of the diagnostic nomogram were 0.806 in the training set and 0.799 in the testing set. For the prognostic nomogram, the time-dependent AUC values of the training and testing set suggested a favorable performance and discrimination of the nomogram. The 1-, 2-, and 3-year AUC values were 0.698, 0.718, and 0.715 in the training set, and 0.669, 0.612, and 0717 in the testing set, respectively. Furthermore, for the 2 nomograms, calibration curves indicated satisfactory agreement between prediction and actual survival, and DCA indicated its clinical usefulness. Conclusion: In this study, grade, histology, N stage, and tumor size were identified as independent risk factors of LM in STS patients, age, chemotherapy surgery, and N stage were identified as independent prognostic factors of STS patients with LM, these developed nomograms may be an effective tool for accurately predicting the risk and prognosis of newly diagnosed patients with LM.

Background: Chordoma is a rare malignant bone tumor, and the survival prediction for patients with chordoma is difficult. The objective of this study was to construct and validate a nomogram for predicting cancer-specific survival (CSS) in patients with spinal chordoma. Methods: A total of 316 patients with spinal chordoma were identified from the SEER database between 1998 and 2015. The independent prognostic factors for patients with spinal chordoma were determined by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. The prognostic nomogram was established for patients with spinal chordoma based on independent prognostic factors. Furthermore, we performed internal and external validations for this nomogram. Results: Primary site, disease stage, histological type, surgery, and age were identified as independent prognostic factors for patients with spinal chordoma. A nomogram for predicting CSS in patients with spinal chordoma was constructed based on the above 5 variables. In the training cohort, the area under the curve for predicting 1-, 3-, and 5-year CSS were 0.821, 0.856, and 0.920, respectively. The corresponding area under the curve in the validation cohort were 0.728, 0.804, and 0.839, respectively. The calibration curves of the nomogram showed a high degree of agreement between the predicted and the actual results, and the decision curve analysis further demonstrated the satisfactory clinical utility of the nomogram. Conclusions: The prognostic nomogram provides a considerably more accurate prediction of prognosis for patients with spinal chordoma. Clinicians can use it to categorize patients into different risk groups and make personalized treatment methods.

Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) of the lumbar spine is rare relative to that of the cervical spine but is often associated with more severe symptoms. Continuous lumbar OPLL is extremely rare. We herein describe a 48-year-old Chinese woman with lumbar spinal stenosis caused by continuous OPLL. She presented with a 5-year history of lower back pain and intermittent claudication. We performed percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic decompression by the posterolateral approach to achieve adequate decompression of the spinal canal up to the lower 1/3 level (0.9 cm) of the L1 vertebral body and down to the upper 1/2 level (1.3 cm) of the L2 vertebral body. After surgery, the patient’s neurological function substantially improved, and her visual analog scale scores for the lower back and both lower extremities and her Oswestry disability index were significantly lower than those in the preoperative period. During the 12-month clinical follow-up period, the patient’s neurological function was fully restored, and she regained her ability to walk normally. No surgery-related complications were observed. This case report describes a novel surgical approach that may be an effective treatment alternative for continuous lumbar OPLL.