Management of soft tissue sarcomas of the abdomen and pelvis

Soft tissue sarcomas of the abdomen or pelvis are rare tumours that usually arise in the retroperitoneum but may also arise from the gastrointestinal tract or other abdominal organs. The aim of this study was to assess patient outcome following treatment of these tumours at a tertiary referral centre.

Data on all patients with soft tissue tumours treated under the care of one surgeon between January 1990 and December 2000 was reviewed.

Over the 11-year period 61 patients underwent 79 operations for a soft tissue sarcoma of the abdomen or pelvis. Macroscopic clearance of tumour at operation was achieved in 45 (74%) of the 61 patients, for primary tumours this was 97%, recurrent tumours 50% and metastases 33%. The median survival for those undergoing complete resection was 50 months (range 3-238 months, median follow-up 33 months). This compared with a median survival of only 6 months range (1-127 months) for those that had incomplete resection (P = 0.001). The 5-year survival for patients that had complete resection was 61.5%, however, over one-third of the 5-year survivors have since recurred.

This study confirms that most primary soft tissue sarcomas of the abdomen or pelvis are resectable and the majority of patients will experience a long disease free interval following resection.