Favorable outcome after complete resection in elderly soft tissue sarcoma patients: Japanese Musculoskeletal Oncology Group study.
BACKGROUND
The surgical management of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in elderly patients has only been addressed in a few studies. The objective of the current study was to assess surgical outcomes in patients with STS aged 70 years and older and the association of older age with the survival after complete resection.


METHODS
A retrospective analysis was conducted in 158 elderly patients with localized STS who visited 11 institutions participating in Japanese Musculoskeletal Oncology Group between 1995 and 2006 and were treated by surgical resection. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors.


RESULTS
Median follow-up period was 38 months. Histologically high-grade tumors were detected in 71% of the patients. Wide resection with adequate margins was performed in 66% of the cases. Systemic chemotherapy was performed in only 5 patients. Univariate analysis identified histological grade and gender as statistically significant prognostic factors for sarcoma-specific survival. Multivariate analysis did not identify significant prognostic factors for sarcoma-specific survival, although high grade sarcoma emerged as a potentially significant prognostic factor (P = 0.050). Local recurrence was detected in 19% of the patients. Multivariate analysis of local recurrence-free survival showed that tumor site and surgical margins were statistically significant prognostic factors.


CONCLUSIONS
Older age was not identified as a prognostic factor for sarcoma-specific survival, which is not consistent with the findings of previous studies showing that older age was associated with decreased sarcoma-specific survival. Complete resection should be indicated and can lead to optimal treatment outcome for properly selected elderly patients.
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
Y
Y
Yoneda
Department of Medical Materials for Musculoskeletal Reconstruction, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan. Electronic address: toshi-kunisada@umin.ac.jp.
T
T
Kunisada
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
N
N
Naka
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School and School of Medicine, Aichi, Japan.
Y
Y
Nishida
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
A
A
Kawai
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kyorin University, Tokyo, Japan.
T
T
Morii
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
K
K
Takeda
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
J
J
Hasei
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
Y
Y
Yamakawa
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
T
T
Ozaki
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
Elderly; Resection; Sarcoma; Soft tissue