Radiotherapy to improve local control regardless of surgical margin and malignancy grade in extremity and trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma: a Scandinavian sarcoma group study

Improved survival with radiation therapy in high-grade soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities: a SEER analysis

PURPOSE

The benefit of radiation therapy in extremity soft tissue sarcomas remains controversial. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of radiation therapy on overall survival among patients with primary soft tissue sarcomas of the extremity who underwent limb-sparing surgery.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

A retrospective study from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database that included data from January 1, 1988, to December 31, 2005. A total of 6,960 patients constituted the study population. Overall survival curves were constructed using the Kaplan-Meir method and for patients with low- and high-grade tumors. Hazard ratios were calculated based on multivariable Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS

Of the cohort, 47% received radiation therapy. There was no significant difference in overall survival among patients with low-grade tumors by radiation therapy. In high-grade tumors, the 3-year overall survival was 73% in patients who received radiation therapy vs. 63% for those who did not receive radiation therapy (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, patients with high-grade tumors who received radiation therapy had an improved overall survival (hazard ratio 0.67, 95% confidence interval 0.57-0.79). In patients receiving radiation therapy, 13.5% received it in a neoadjuvant setting. The incidence of patients receiving neoadjuvant radiation did not change significantly between 1988 and 2005.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the largest population-based study reported in patients undergoing limb-sparing surgery for soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities. It reports that radiation was associated with improved survival in patients with high-grade tumors.

Liposarcoma: outcome based on the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group register

BACKGROUND

The aim was to study the clinicopathological characteristics, treatment, and outcome of liposarcoma in an unselected, population-based patient sample, and to establish whether treatment was according to the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) treatment guidelines.

METHODS

The SSG Pathology Board reviewed 319 liposarcoma cases reported between 1986 and 1998. After the review, 237 patients without metastasis were analyzed for local recurrence rate in relation to surgical margins, radiotherapy, occurrence of metastasis, and survival.

RESULTS

Seventy-eight percent of the patients were primarily operated on at a sarcoma center, 45% with wide margins. All patients operated on outside the center had nonwide margins. Low-grade lesions constituted 67% of cases. Despite nonwide surgery, only 58% of high-grade lesions were treated with postoperative radiotherapy. The risk of local recurrence after nonwide surgery, without irradiation, was 47% for high-grade lesions. The estimated 10-year, local recurrence-free and metastasis-free survival in the low-grade group was 87% and 95%, respectively. In the high-grade group, it was 75% and 61%, respectively. Independent adverse prognostic factors for local recurrence were surgery outside a sarcoma center and histological type dedifferentiated liposarcoma. For metastases, they were old age, large tumor size, high grade, and histological type myxoid liposarcoma with a round cell component. Radiotherapy showed significant effect on local recurrence rate for the same grade and margin.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with liposarcoma should be treated at specialized centers. Postoperative radiotherapy decreases the local recurrence rate. To maintain quality and provide support for further trials, reporting to quality registers is crucial.