Staging, nomograms and other predictive tools in retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma

Patient outcomes following surgical resection of retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPSs) are variable and therefore predicting prognosis is challenging. The risk of recurrence varies according to several patient- tumour- and treatment-related characteristics, including histological subtype and tumour grade. In an era of increased movement towards individualised patient care, the ability to predict prognosis following surgery for RPS is essential. The accurate prediction of an individual patient's outcome is important to allow adequate patient counselling and to ensure the optimal therapeutic strategy is selected. The outcomes of patients who have undergone resection for RPS can be predicted using tools such as nomograms. Nomograms take into account the relative contribution of each variable by giving them different weights and then combining them. This review aims to discuss current staging systems available for RPS and to critically appraise predictive tools that are currently available for use in clinical practice.