Additional wide resection of malignant soft tissue tumors

Forty-five patients with soft tissue sarcomas received additional wide resections after they were treated with simple excision by a primary physician. Of the patients in the current study, 26 were male and 19 were female; all were treated between 1986 and 1998 for malignant soft tissue tumors. The mean followup was 7.1 +/- 3.4 years. The mean time from first excision to additional wide resection was 8 weeks, and for 90% of the patients it was within 12 weeks. In deciding the surgical margin for an additional operation, enhanced computed tomography scans and magnetic resonance images were done. Four (8.8%) patients had local recurrences that required a second resection and had no evidence of disease at latest followup. Four (8.8%) patients had distant metastases but did not have local recurrences. Three patients died of lung metastases. The overall 5-year survival rate of the patients was 93%, and the overall 5-year disease-free rate was 84%. It seems that tumors treated adequately by wide resection in an additional operation have results as good as tumors treated with a primary wide resection.