Prognostic Factors in Indian Patients Operated for Soft Tissue Sarcomas-a Retrospective Cross-sectional Analysis

Soft tissue sarcomas are a rare entity. While surgery is established as the mainstay of treatment, the exact role and sequencing of adjuvant therapy is not well defined. Literature on Indian patients with soft tissue sarcoma with respect to clinical profile and prognostic factors is scarce. We retrospectively analysed the data of 112 patients operated for soft tissue sarcoma of extremity or trunk (excluding retroperitoneal and mediastinal sarcomas, round cell histology) at our institute from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013. Around half the patients were less than 50 years of age and around a third had size more than 10 cm. Oncological outcome was correlated with various demographic, tumour-related and treatment-related factors using SPSS 22. Overall survival at 5 years was 73.2 % and event-free survival at 5 years was 42.2 %. At final follow-up (mean of 44.85 ± 4.64 months), local recurrence was seen in 31.9 % and distant metastasis was seen in 30.1 % of the patients. Using both univariate and multivariate analysis, younger age (<50 years), larger size (>10 cm, but not >5 cm) and pathologically positive lymph nodes were the only factors found significantly affecting overall survival. The clinical profile and prognosis of Indian patients with soft tissue sarcoma were found to be different from that reported in Western literature. The impact of established prognostic indicators for soft tissue sarcoma also differed in Indian patients, which may have both prognostic and therapeutic implications.