Oncology outcomes in Retroperitoneal sarcomas: Prognostic factors in a Retrospective Cohort study

Retroperitoneal sarcomas are a rare group of malignant soft tissue tumors with a generally poor prognosis. The aim of the study was to define the demographic characteristics and prognostic factors for patients with retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS) in a Tertiary Referral Center at Mexico.

A retrospective study of patients with RPS treated from January 2005 to December 2012 at the National Cancer Institute at Mexico. Patient, tumor and treatment variables were analyzed including use of adjuvant therapy and survival status. Survival and local recurrence curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Ninety-five patients with a mean age of 47 years with retroperitoneal sarcoma were included. Median follow-up was 25 months (range 1-108 months). The average tumor size was 23.7 cm. Histology, 58 (61.1%) were liposarcoma, 14 (14.7%), leiomyosarcomas and 23 (24.2%) were from other histologies. In 64 (67.4%) patients were high-grade malignancies. The median survival was 51 months for patients with complete resection, 25.1 months for those with incomplete resection, and 4.4 months for those with unresectable tumors. Complete resection (p = 0.0001), and liposarcoma (p = 0.03) were prognostic factors for overall survival.

In this study of patients with retroperitoneal, complete resection and liposarcoma histology are prognostic factors related to the disease-free and overall survival. Patients approached with curative intent should undergo aggressive attempts at complete surgical resection.