Soft-tissue sarcomas of the head and neck

We reviewed the charts of 352 patients at the Mayo Clinic who were diagnosed and treated for primary soft-tissue sarcomas of the head and neck from 1962 to 1982. The age at diagnosis ranged from 6 weeks to 91 years; 28 percent were pediatric patients. Regional or distant metastases were present at the time of primary diagnosis in 8 percent of patients. Nonorbital rhabdomyosarcoma was the most common tumor type (17 percent), and neuroblastoma was the rarest (2 percent). In children, rhabdomyosarcomas were proportionally more common, as was overall involvement of the orbit. Surgical excision was the sole method of tumor control in 49 percent of patients; excision with adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy was used in 33 percent. In those with localized disease, overall survival was 81 percent at 2 years, 68 percent at 5 years, and 60 percent at 10 years postoperatively. Patients with angiosarcoma and nonorbital rhabdomyosarcoma experienced the poorest survival rates.