Surgical resection and intraperitoneal chemotherapy for recurrent abdominal sarcomas

Recurrent abdominal sarcomas have an extremely high rate of recurrence and poor overall survival. A prospective study was initiated to assess the feasibility, toxicity, and benefit of surgical resection and intraperitoneal chemotherapy for improving local control of disease and overall survival.

Fifty-four patients underwent surgical excision of all gross disease and postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy with mitoxantrone. Thirty-five patients had peritoneal disease only (stage II), and 19 patients had peritoneal disease with hepatic metastases (stage III).

Nine (17%) patients remain free of disease with a mean follow-up of 37 months. The remaining 45 patients (83%) have had recurrence, with a mean interval to recurrence of 11 months. Stage (P = .001) and grade (P = .005) were the only two variables found to significantly affect recurrence. There was an overall peritoneal recurrence rate of 48% and an overall hepatic failure rate of 69%. Nineteen (35%) of the patients are alive, with a mean follow-up of 46 months. The overall 5-year survival was 31%. The 5-year survival for stage II patients was 46%; for stage III patients, it was only 5%. Stage (P = .001) and grade (P = .056) were the only two variables found to significantly affect survival. There were no treatment-related deaths, and only 5 patients (9%) developed local complications.

Aggressive surgical resection and intraperitoneal chemotherapy for recurrent abdominal sarcomas is a feasible treatment approach with minimal toxicity. Although this treatment had little effect on the hepatic spread of this disease and thus overall survival, it appears to have significantly lowered the rate of peritoneal recurrence and may provide a survival benefit for patients with disease limited to the peritoneum.