• Tumour endoprostheses have facilitated limb-salvage procedures in primary bone and soft tissue sarcomas, and are increasingly being used in symptomatic metastases of the long bones.

• The objective of the present review was to analyse articles published over the last three years on tumour endoprostheses and to summarize current knowledge on this topic. The NCBI PubMed webpage was used to identify original articles published between January 2015 and April 2018 in journals with an impact factor in the top 25.9% of the respective category (orthopaedics, multidisciplinary sciences).

• The following search-terms were used: tumour endoprosthesis, advances tumour endoprosthesis, tumour megaprosthesis, prosthetic reconstruction AND tumour. We identified 347 original articles, of which 53 complied with the abovementioned criteria.

• Articles were categorized into (1) tumour endoprostheses in the shoulder girdle, (2) tumour endoprostheses in the proximal femur, (3) tumour endoprostheses of the knee region, (4) tumour endoprostheses in the pelvis, (5) (expandable) prostheses in children and (6) long-term results of tumour endoprostheses.

• The topics of interest covered by the selected studies largely matched with the main research questions stated at a consensus meeting, with survival outcome of orthopaedic implants being the most commonly raised research question.

• As many studies reported on the risk of deep infections, research in the future should also focus on potential preventive methods in endoprosthetic tumour reconstruction.

Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2019;4:445-459. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.4.180081

• The relatively low incidence and often atypical clinical presentation of soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) impedes early and adequate diagnosis. Patients may report on recently enlarged soft-tissue swellings, infrequently complain of painful lesions, or even have no symptoms at all.

• A thorough diagnostic work-up is essential in order to distinguish between benign soft-tissue tumours and STSs. Patient history, clinical features and radiological findings all help in assessing the underlying pathology. ‘Worrying’ features such as recent increase in size, deep location relative to the fascia, a tumour exceeding 4 cm in size, and invasive growth patterns seen on imaging should prompt verification by biopsy.

• Even though acquisition of biopsy material may be incomplete, one should bear in mind some essential rules. Regardless of the biopsy technique applied, the most direct route to the lump in question should be identified, contamination of adjacent structures should be avoided and a sufficient amount of tissue acquired.

• Treatment of STS is best planned by a multidisciplinary team, involving experts from various medical specialities. The benchmark therapy consists of en bloc resection of the tumour, covered by a safety margin of healthy tissue. Depending on tumour histology, grade, local extent and anatomical stage, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and isolated hyperthermic limb perfusion may be employed.

• Due to the complexity of treatment, any soft-tissue swelling suspected of malignancy is best referred directly to a sarcoma centre, where therapeutic management is carefully planned by an experienced multidisciplinary team.

Cite this article: EFORT Open Rev 2017;2:421-431. DOI: 10.1302/2058-5241.2.170005