Dendritic cell sarcoma: an analytic overview of the literature and presentation of original five cases

Interdigitating and follicular dendritic cell sarcoma (DCS) are very rare diseases, with approximately 184 cases being reported thus far, and their best treatment modality is still on debate. This is a review of all the cases of dendritic cell sarcoma reported from 1981 until April 2006. This review is enriched with the original contribution of five cases occurred at our Institution from 1994 to 2006. The review of the literature pointed out that radical surgery alone was curative in approximately two thirds of these cases, the relapsing rate in patients who received adjuvant treatments being higher than 30%. We pinpoint new five cases of dendritic cell sarcoma (three FDCS and two IDCS). Both the analytic revision of the literature and our data suggest that localized DCS may be effectively treated by radical surgery and do not support the use of adjuvant treatments after radical excision.