title: Aggressive surgical treatment of retroperitoneal sarcoma: long-term experience of a single institution.
abstract: Surgery is the main modality in the therapy of retroperitoneal soft-tissue sarcomas (RSTS). A retrospective study was undertaken to evaluate the results of aggressive surgical treatment in a series of patients of primary and recurrent retroperitoneal sarcomas. A review of 166 consecutive patients with RSTS operated on at the Institute of Oncology in Ljubljana from 1975 through 2005 were reviewed. A total of 269 operations were performed on 166 patients. The five- and ten-year survival rates of patients with localized sarcoma were 52% and 38%, respectively. Factors that influenced the survival were distant metastases, tumor grade, and type of resection. The patients with R0 resections had a five-year survival rate of 75% and a ten-year survival rate of 65%; the respective rates for the patients with R1 resections were 25% and 7% (p < 0.00001). When only R0 resection was considered, referral status (primary, residual, recurrent RSTS) influenced survival (p = 0.004). The quality of initial surgery is a crucial prognostic factor to predicting survival in patients with RSTS. Complete surgical resection without microscopic residuum and contamination is likely to offer the best chances for long-term survival. Unless no other treatment modalities are available, aggressive surgery for recurrent sarcoma is recommended.
authors: Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors: Darja
authors: D
authors: Erzen
authors: Janez
authors: J
authors: Novak
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Spiler
authors: Mojca
authors: M
authors: Sencar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D012186:Retroperitoneal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery*; D017524:Slovenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult