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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
A Mouse Model of Incompletely Resected Soft Tissue Sarcoma for Testing Neoadjuvant Therapies
Published on: July 28, 2020
Management of Unplanned Excision for Soft-Tissue Sarcoma With Preoperative Radiotherapy Followed by Definitive
Daniel A Jones1, Charles Shideman, Jianling Yuan
1Departments of *Radiation Oncology †Laboratory Medicine and Pathology §Orthopedic Surgery, University of Minnesota Affiliated Hospitals ∥Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota ‡Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Veterans Administration Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN.
Background And Objectives:
The purpose of this study was to review the outcomes after preoperative radiotherapy and definitive surgery for patients who initially had inadvertent excision for sarcoma.
Materials And Methods:
Treatment records of 44 consecutive patients, who initially underwent unplanned excision of soft-tissue sarcoma between January 2004 and January 2012, were reviewed. All patients had clinically localized disease before treatment and received preoperative external-beam radiotherapy followed by definitive oncologic surgery at our institution.
Results:
The median follow-up was 36 months. Residual tumor after preoperative radiotherapy and wound bed excision was identified in 39% (17/44) of the cases. Kaplan-Meier estimates for 5-year local control, recurrence-free survival, and overall survival are 95% (95% confidence interval [CI], 80-99), 86% (95% CI, 69-94), and 94% (95% CI, 79-99) respectively. Perioperative morbidity occurred in 25% of patients (11/44.) All patients with perioperative wound complications had lower extremity sarcomas.
Conclusions:
Optimal management for unplanned excision of soft-tissue sarcoma is unknown. Our institution has adopted the approach of preoperative radiotherapy, followed by definitive surgery. In our series of 44 patients, local control was excellent at 95%, with perioperative complications seen only in patients with lower extremity sarcomas, suggesting that this is a reasonable approach to manage inadvertently resected sarcoma.
