Surgical approach for soft tissue sarcoma: standard of care and future approaches

This review highlights the ongoing importance of surgical resection as the primary treatment modality for localized soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) in all locations and for the majority of histologic types. Accomplishing this goal in an oncologic fashion is of paramount importance for all patients eligible for treatment with curative intent and for selected patients with metastatic disease.

Ongoing advances in combined modality therapy and improved knowledge regarding the natural history and disease biology of individual sarcoma subtypes have allowed for better surgical planning and tailoring of the extent of resection depending on individual clinical, radiographic, and pathologic factors.

Successful therapy for localized STS remains contingent on surgical resection with tumor-free margins. It is hoped that ongoing advances in the molecular and genetic understanding of the pathogenesis and biology of STS will lead to sustained improvements in the care of these patients, and success will come from the ongoing development of targeted therapies and immunotherapies specific to histologic type.