title: Pulsed dose-rate perioperative interstitial brachytherapy for soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities and skeletal muscles of the trunk.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study evaluated the role of pulsed dose-rate (PDR) brachytherapy (BRT), delivered alone or as a boost to external beam radiotherapy, as adjuvant therapy for the local control of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities and skeletal muscles of the trunk that have undergone surgical treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between July 1998 and January 2002, 42 patients were treated with a combination of surgery and BRT alone (18 patients) or BRT/external beam radiotherapy (24 patients) for the treatment of primary (n = 32) and recurrent (n = 10) soft tissue sarcomas located in the proximal extremity (n = 17), distal extremity (n = 17), and trunk (n = 8). Tumor size was <5 cm in 20 cases and >5 cm in 22 cases, with histological grading of 1 (n = 7), 2 (n = 18), or 3 (n = 17). The median BRT dose delivered was 15 Gy, and the median external beam irradiation dose was 50 Gy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With a median follow-up of 34 months, the 36-month survival was 83.9% (SE, 6.1%), and the local control was 89%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PDR interstitial BRT for soft tissue sarcoma is an effective, well-tolerated adjuvant radiation treatment that offers several practical advantages, among which are low acute and late toxicity with maximum normal tissue and critical structure sparing and overall shorter radiotherapy and hospital stay.
authors.affiliation: Melonoma Unit, European Institute of Oncology, University of Milan, Via Ripamonti 435, 20141 Milan, Italy,
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lazzaro
authors.forename: Roberta
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lazzari
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pelosi
authors.forename: Tommaso
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Pas
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mariani
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mazzarol
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sances
authors.forename: Giulio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tosti
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baldini
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mosconi
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tedeschi
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Viale
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Marsiglia
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chiappa
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vavassori
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orecchia
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Testori
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000009:adverse effects; D005121:Extremities; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D015996:Survival Rate