[Treatments of Soft Tissue Sarcomas by Orthopaedic Surgeons in Japan]

In Japan, the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) has been performed mainly by orthopaedic surgeons. The standard therapy for all cases of STS is surgical resection of the tumor. The prognosis of patients with unresectable tumors or distant metastases is poor despite treatment with intensive chemotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is indicated for patients with resectable tumors. Round-cell STS, including extraskeletal Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma, have high sensitivity to chemotherapy. The standard treatment for round-cell STS is multimodal therapy with surgery and chemotherapy, with or without radiotherapy. On the other hand, non-round cell STS, including leiomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, and liposarcoma, have low sensitivity to chemotherapy. Thus, the standard treatment for non-round cell STS is essentially, surgery. Large and high-grade non-round cell STS are also treated using adjuvant chemotherapy along with surgery. In this review, the standard therapies for STS and the future perspective in Japan are discussed.