Postradiation sarcomas: importance of surgery

Purpose: To evaluate the role of surgery in the treatment of Post-radiation sarcomas Materials. Post-radiation sarcomas is a rare entity and large series have rarely been reported. In order to improve knowledge about this entity the Radiotherapist group of the French Cancer Centres (FNCLCC) decided to collect retrospectively the cases treated in their institutions. In order to be sure of the histology, all the cases were reviewed by a panel of pathologists of the FNCLCC Pathologist group. A total of 129 cases of sarcomas, and 108 were reviewed; analysis of 8 is in progress, and no material was obtained in the other 11 cases. The diagnosis of sarcomas was confirmed in 80 cases. All patients (60 F, 20 M) have received radiation therapy (median dose 50 Gy; 9-110 Gy) for the treatment of the primary tumor. At this time the age was 44 years (6-83 y). Diagnoses included: breast C. 42%, Lymphomas 11.5%, gynaecological C. 10% benign lesions 5% miscellaneous. Sarcomas developed after a mean interval of 12 years (3-64 y), in bone in 30% of the cases and in soft tissue in 70%. The majority of lesions (90%) developed in the irradiated field (dose received was between 50 Gy and 60 Gy). Histologically there were 29% Malignant HistiocytofibroSarcomas, 19% OsteoSarcomas, 15% FibroSarcomas, 9% LipoSarcomas, 6% LeiomyoSarcomas, miscellaneous sarcomas 22%. Treatment included: Surgery 28 cases, Surgery+Chemotherapy 17 cases, Chemotherapy only 16 cases, Radiation therapy only 1 case, surgery + Radiation therapy 5 cases, Radiation therapy +chemotherapy 6 cases, Surgery + Radiation therapy + Chemotherapy 7 cases, no treatment 5 cases. Results. The outcome is known for all but 3 patients. 51 patients have died (44 of their sarcoma, 4 of the primary tumour, 2 of other cause and 1 iatrogenic). Median survival is 23 months (95% confidence interval 16-29 mo) but 9 patients survived 5 yr or more. Median survival was 43 mo for patients treated by surgery (28p), 6 mo for chemotherapy group (16 p) and 31 mo for Surgery+chemotherapy. The differences of survival for the 3 groups are highly significant (p=0,0001, Mantel-Cox). There was no difference between Surgery or Surgery + Chemotherapy (p=0.56). The quality of surgery is known for 57 patients (complete 44p, partial 13 p). The survival was 43 mo VS 16 mo (p=0.08, Mantle-Cox, p=0.036, Breslow) Conclusion. This series confirmed the poor prognosis of post radiation sarcomas even though some have long survived for long periods but Surgery play a very important role in the survival of the patients