title: The surgical margin in soft-tissue sarcoma.
abstract: In a retrospective review of 231 patients who were referred to Princess Margaret Hospital because of a soft-tissue sarcoma in an extremity, 100 patients were identified who had no metastases when they were first seen and who had been treated by local resection and adjuvant radiation therapy. Complete data were collected for each patient for the following variables: age; sex; location of the tumor and its size, grade, depth, and compartmental status; chemotherapy; and dose of radiation. The surgical margins were characterized as positive or negative for histological evidence of disease on the basis of an independent review of the pathological and operative reports by a surgeon and a radiation oncologist who were experienced in the management of sarcoma. Cox multivariate analysis was used to determine which of these variables contributed to local recurrence and evidence of systemic disease. Adequacy of the margin of resection was the only variable that was associated with local relapse (p = 0.0004). The size of the tumor (p = 0.0008) was the major determinant of the risk of systemic disease.
authors.affiliation: Sarcoma Site Group, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: O'Sullivan
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Powell
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: V L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Fornasier
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cummings
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Miceli
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Quirt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000453:epidemiology; D011182:Postoperative Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*