Surgical clinicopathologic study of malignant fibrous histiocytoma

Fifteen men and six women, ranging in age from 20 to 79 years, with malignant fibrous histiocytoma comprised this series. Amputation of the right lower extremity was performed in one patient, wide resection in 7 and marginal excision in 9, respectively. In the other 4 patients, a non-curative resection was carried out. Adjuvant chemotherapy was prescribed post-operatively for 12 patients. Histologic grade of the surgical specimens was Stage I in 3, II in 6, III in 8 and IV in 4. Among fourteen patients living from 10 months to 9 years and 9 months after the operation, the 7 subjected to a wide resection are all disease free. Seven patients died of a local recurrence or a distant metastases. The survival rate of the patients with Stages I, II is significantly higher than those with Stages III, IV. These results show that a wide resection is to be favored and that staging is useful to estimate the prognosis.