title: Long-term treatment results in soft tissue sarcomas of the thoracic wall treated with pre-or-postoperative radiotherapy--a single institution experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the long term results among patients with soft tissue sarcoma of the thoracic wall.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-six patients who were treated with pre-or postoperative radiotherapy between December 1980-December 2007, with a diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma of the thoracic wall were retrospectively evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median age was 44 years (14-85 years) and 15 of them were male. A total of 50% of patients were grade 3. The most common histologic type of tumor was undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (26.9%). Tumor size varied between 2-25 cm (median 6.5 cm). Seventeen of the cases had marginal and 9 had wide local resection. Four cases received preoperative radiotherapy and 22 postoperative radiotherapy. Six of the patients with large and high grade tumors received chemotherapy. Median follow-up time was 82 months (9-309 months). Local recurrence and metastasis was detected in 34.6% and 42.3% of patients, respectively. Five- year local control (LC), disease-free survival (DFS), overall survival (OS), and disease-specific survival (DSS) were 62%, 38%, 69%, and 76% respectively. On univariate analysis, the patients with positive surgical margins had a markedly lower 5-year LC rate than patients with negative surgical margin, but the difference was not significant (43% vs 78%, p=0.1). Five-year DFS (66% vs 17%) and DSS (92% vs 60%) rates were significantly worse for the patients who had high grade tumors (p=0.01, p=0.008 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tumor grade and surgical margin are essential parameters for determining the prognosis of thoracic wall soft tissue sarcoma both in our series and the literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Turkey E-mail : didemcolpan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Didem Colpan
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Oksuz
authors.forename: Sevim
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Nuri
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaydihan
authors.forename: Sergulen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dervisoglu
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hiz
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tuzun
authors.forename: Nil Molinas
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Mandel
authors.forename: Sedat
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koca
authors.forename: Fazilet Oner
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Dincbas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011300:Preoperative Care; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult