title: Two cases of secondary soft tissue sarcomas after radiotherapy and radiochemotherapy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The development of secondary soft tissue sarcomas after chemo-radiotherapy is a rare and little known event, but its frequency is increasing.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report two cases of secondary soft tissue sarcomas. The first is the case of a 51-year-old woman treated for Hodgkin's disease with chemotherapy and radiotherapy 15 years before she developed a high-grade malignant pleural sarcoma. The patient had no history of asbestos exposure. The second is the case of a 64-year-old woman with a giant cell malignant histiocytoma secondary to colorectal cancer treated with surgery and radiotherapy nine years before. The patients were not eligible for surgery or radiotherapy. Both were treated with chemotherapy (ifosfamide and epirubicin) without any relevant secondary effects; however, the response to therapy was poor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The causes of secondary malignancies are multifactorial, but radiation therapy and chemotherapy are certainly implicated in the development of post-therapy neoplasms that are difficult to treat.
authors.affiliation: Cure Palliative-Oncologia, Ospedale S Giovanni Battista, Gattinara, Italy. c.saggia@inwind.it
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saggia
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Forti
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biaggi
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lattuada
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Santagostino
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Angeli
authors.forename: Maria Cristina
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Pollo
authors.forename: Maria Emanuela
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Negru
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alabiso
mesh_terms: D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy; D005260:Female; D054747:Histiocytic Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009381:Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D010997:Pleural Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*