title: Primary vaginal sarcoma: Experience of a regional cancer center in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the clinical characteristics of primary vaginal sarcoma, which is a rare malignancy
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed the clinical records of eight patients with primary vaginal sarcoma treated at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Centre from 1997 to 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eight patients aged ≥ 17 years were identified (four had leiomyosarcoma, two had endometrial stromal sarcoma, one had undifferentiated sarcoma, and one had adenosarcoma). Four patients had stage I disease, one had stage II, and three had stage IV. Five patients with stage I or II tumor received surgery of mainly local wide excision. One of the five patients received postoperative radiation plus chemotherapy and two had postoperative chemotherapy only. Three of the four stage I patients who had low-grade tumors and received wide local excision were alive without disease at 21, 53, and 81 months, respectively. One stage I patient with a high-grade tumor received simple tumor excision only and died of the disease at 20 months. The patient with stage II disease was lost to follow up. The three stage IV patients received radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy and all died within 2 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgery is the main treatment for primary vaginal sarcoma. Prognosis may be associated with tumor grade and stage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yong-Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Yan-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D002681:China; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014625:Vaginal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery
keywords: pelvic exenteration; prognosis; sarcoma; tumor staging; vagina