title: Adjuvant chemotherapy in 2011 for patients with soft-tissue sarcoma.
abstract: The mainstay of treatment for adults with soft-tissue sarcomas is wide surgical excision. Half of all patients with adequate local control of high-grade sarcomas develop distant metastases and, despite additional treatment, ultimately die from their disease. This daunting reality has resulted in a three-decade research effort to assess the efficacy of adjuvant therapy for adult soft-tissue sarcomas. The multitude of histopathological subtypes, each with its own biology and clinical behavior, and the rarity of adult soft-tissue sarcomas as a whole greatly complicate such an assessment. This Perspectives article examines data that support or refute the use of adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas.
authors.affiliation: Division Of Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Medical Center, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, 177 Fort Washington Avenue, Milstein Hospital Building 6-435, New York, NY 10032, USA. im17@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matushansky
authors.forename: Robert N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Taub
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D006801:Humans; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents