Synovial sarcoma of the shoulder: A series of 14 cases

Synovial sarcoma is a rare soft tissue sarcoma with poor long-term prognosis due to late recurrence and metastasis. Synovial sarcoma arises in less than 6% from the shoulder. As a result, there is limited information in the literature about synovial sarcoma of the shoulder (SSS).

We included all patients treated for SSS at our institution between 1985 and 2013. Medical charts were retrospectively reviewed to collect demographics, information about the clinical course, and outcome. This subgroup was compared to our institution's entire synovial sarcoma patient cohort and the data in the published literature.

SSS Patients presented most commonly with pain and a growing mass; the majority of tumors were grade 2 and measured greater than 5 cm. 43% (7) of SSS patients developed metastatic disease and 36% (5) had died at a median follow-up of 64 months (36-127); SSS 5-year survival (83.3%) was higher in our series than in the general literature (57-75%).

We found better prognosis in patients with synovial sarcoma of the shoulder than expected based on the current literature. The clinical behavior of synovial sarcoma in the shoulder is closer to that of synovial sarcoma in the extremities than the trunk.

Level IV, Case Series.