[Giant retroperitoneal liposarcoma--case report]

Retroperitoneal liposarcomas are the most frequent soft tissue sarcomas and the second most frequent retroperitoneal tumours. They represent less then 0.1% of all human malignancies. Hereby we describe the treatment of our patient where of a 15-kg giant retroperitoneal liposarcoma was successfully removed and a local recurrence two years later was operated on as well. This was the 3rd largest retroperitoneal malignant tumor that was successfully removed according to the available literature of the last five decades. These typically symptom-free tumors usually grow extreme size before diagnosed. The "gold-standard" of treatment remains surgical total excision, but the high local recurrence rate (50-60%) hopefully can be reduced by adjuvant radio- and chemotherapy. Multidisciplinary treatment and long-time follow-up can provide as high as 40% 5-year survival rate. We summarize the recent clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic methods of this rare condition.