Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

The recently published article titled “Proximal Radial and Distal Humeral Osteosarcoma” by

contains a number of numerical errors that are not supported by data presented in the Outcomes in the Table on page of that article. In the published abstract, the results section on page, and the discussion on page, the median survival is listed as 824 days. According to the Table on page, 824 days was the longest survival of any dog, not the median survival; and the median survival of the dogs listed in the Table should actually be 238.5 days (or halfway between 182 and 295 days). This error should have been particularly visible to both authors and reviewers in the last sentence of the first full paragraph on page, which states, “The median survival time was 824 days (range 11 to 824 days).” Also, in the abstract, the results section on page, and the discussion on page, the claim for median metastasis-free interval is 356 days. On the Table on page, the metastasis-free interval is listed for six dogs, and the median metastasis-free interval should actually be 198 days (halfway between 153 and 243 days). Published conclusions reached from comparisons of the erroneous medians with the data from dogs with osteosarcoma at other appen-dicular sites (results, page) should be reevaluated using the corrected medians.

Median survival times from studies of this type are often quoted in support of patient-care decisions by casual readers without reference to or careful examination of the original published data. I would hope that authors of similar studies, and those who serve as scientific reviewers for the JOURNAL, would more carefully scrutinize the manuscript at each stage of publication to prevent final publication of such errors.

Cordially yours,