title: Treatment of uterine sarcoma at the University of Florence from 1980-2001.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To correlate the treatment used in uterine sarcoma with outcome. The prognostic importance of pathology, clinical parameters and treatment are analyzed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients (median age, 59 years; range, 37-85) with histologically verified uterine sarcoma were identified from a database compiled at the University of Florence from 1980 to 2001. Patients were followed for a median of 54 months (range, 3 months to 10 years). Twenty-four patients had leiomyosarcoma, 12 patients had mixed mullerian tumors, and 3 patients had endometrial stromal sarcoma. Stage I, II, III and IV tumors were identified in 22, 2, 9 and 7 patients, respectively. High, intermediate, low and unspecified grade sarcoma occurred in 9, 4, 5 and 22 patients, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At the time of analysis, 58% of patients had died and 42% were alive, with a median survival of 2 years from the initial diagnosis. Cause-specific survival for the entire group was 81%, 41% and 25% at 1, 3 and 5 years, respectively. In our series, univariate analysis for cause-specific survival did not demonstrate statistical significance for histology, grade, stage or age. There appeared to be a significant impact for postoperative radiotherapy in reducing local recurrence with a total dose higher than 50 Gy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data favor treatment for uterine sarcoma with radical surgery plus irradiation, even in elderly patients.
authors.affiliation: Radiotherapy Department, Florence University, Florence, Italy. l.livi@dfc.unifi.it
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Livi
authors.forename: Fabiola
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paiar
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Meldolesi
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simontacchi
authors.forename: Gianni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amunni
authors.forename: Raffaella
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barca
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villanucci
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scoccianti
authors.forename: Gaia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piperno
authors.forename: Gianpaolo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Biti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008593:Menopause / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014495:Universities; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*