Soft tissue sarcomas of the foot and ankle: impact of unplanned excision, limb salvage, and multimodality therapy.
BACKGROUND
Foot and ankle sarcomas have historically been treated with amputation because of the difficulty in achieving local disease control and maintaining a functional foot. Potential opportunities for limb salvage may be further compromised by unplanned excisions.


METHODS
We reviewed 52 consecutive patients with soft tissue sarcomas of the foot and ankle and analyzed the impact of planned versus unplanned initial excision, limb salvage, and multimodality therapy on treatment and outcomes.


RESULTS
Unplanned excisions had been performed in 29 (55.8%) patients. Limb salvage was performed in 38 patients, with 14 requiring free soft tissue transfers. At an average followup of 99 (range, 24 to 216) months, the 5-year overall survival estimate was 76.3%. Although not statistically significant, we noted clinically relevant potential differences in local recurrence-free, disease-free, and oncologic survival between the planned and unplanned excision groups. Seven patients (13.5%) had a local recurrence, five of these following an unplanned excision. Functional scores averaged 83.2% for all patients which were similar between planned versus unplanned and amputation versus limb salvage groups. Significantly more patients with unplanned excisions required free flaps for limb salvage (p = 0.017) and received adjuvant radiotherapy (p = 0.0004).


CONCLUSIONS
Unplanned surgery for soft tissue sarcomas of the foot and ankle often results in the need for more aggressive surgery and/or adjuvant radiotherapy and may impact oncologic outcomes, but does not necessarily portend worse functional outcomes. Multimodal therapy and judicious use of soft tissue flap reconstruction allows limb salvage in most patients with favorable outcomes.
Thacker
Mihir M
MM
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, DE, USA.
Potter
Benjamin K
BK
Pitcher
J David
JD
Temple
H Thomas
HT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000842:Ankle; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D006801:Humans; D023821:Limb Salvage; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000628:therapy*; D012983:Soft Tissue Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome