AbstractCases of primary osteosarcoma of the lower femur treated by through‐femur amputation and reported to the Bristol Bone Tumour Registry have been reviewed from the viewpoint of local recurrence.There were 2 recurrences within the stump and 4 cases with metastases in the ilio‐inguinal region.It is argued that these figures do not justify the routine use of hip disarticulation with its necessarily cumbersome prosthesis in the primary treatment of these tumo