Major amputation for soft-tissue sarcoma

Advances in oncological practice have reduced the number of major amputations performed for soft-tissue sarcoma, but this remains a valuable, if infrequent, option for both curative and palliative indications.

A review of patients and case-notes was carried out from the prospective sarcoma database at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

Over a 10-year interval, 40 major amputations (18 forequarter, 17 hindquarter and five through hip) were performed, predominantly for disease recurring after previous limb-conserving surgery (31 of 40). A wide variety of soft-tissue sarcoma subtypes was seen; they were often large (more than 10 cm; 18 of 40) or multifocal (six), usually high grade (25), and frequently proximal or involving neurovascular structures such that limb salvage was precluded. Median range age of the patients was 59 (17-87) years. The operative 30-day mortality rate was zero. Hospital stay was a median of 10.5 days for forequarter amputation, and 19 days for hindquarter and through-hip amputation. Local recurrence occurred in ten patients, six of whom had concurrent distant metastases. Twenty-seven patients were alive (20 disease free) at a median follow-up of 12 months, nine of whom were alive without evidence of disease beyond 2 years. Ten patients died after a median of 7.5 months; three survived more than 2 years.

Major amputation is a useful procedure in carefully selected patients with soft-tissue sarcoma.