Adjuvant chemotherapy in clinical stage M0 sarcoma of soft tissue

The clinical course of 117 patients who were treated for Stages IIB-IIIC sarcoma of soft tissues by the combined approach of radiation and surgery at MGH during the period 1971-1984 have been analyzed for an effect of adjuvant chemotherapy to improve clinical results. Thirty-two patients received adjuvant chemotherapy and 85 were treated by local methods alone. The chemotherapy protocols featured doxorubicin (25 patients) or VAC (seven patients). The no chemotherapy patients were controls matched for tumor grade and size and were treated over approximately the same period. The two groups were not well matched for age: median age of 38.5 and 54 years for the treated and control groups, respectively. There was no significant difference in survival. However, the time to first metastasis was longer in the treated group, P = 0.04. Furthermore, the local failure rate appeared to be lower in the treated group, P = 0.06.