Soft tissue sarcoma of the vulva: A clinical study

The purpose of this study is to report clinical aspects and treatment results of patients seen at Johns Hopkins. A search of the tumor registry of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center found 453 patients with malignancies of the vulva registered between 1977 and 1997. Patient and tumor characteristics, treatment methods, and follow-up were obtained from charts. Seven patients were identified with sarcoma of the vulva. Of these, one was removed from analysis due to histology. Three patients had leiomyosarcoma, two had fibrosarcoma, and one had epithelioid sarcoma. The mean age was 41. Mean time to diagnosis was 6 months. All but one of the tumors was located on the labia majora. Median tumor size was 3.5 cm. Surgery varied from wide local excision to radical vulvectomy with inguinal lymph node dissection. Surgical margins were microscopically negative in five of the six cases. Two patients had received adjuvant external beam radiation. One of them had a tumor greater than 5 cm and close surgical margins and the other had high-grade tumor, which recurred after previous surgery. Mean follow-up was 127.8 months. There have been no recurrences to date.