Treatment Patterns and Distance to Treatment Facility for Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Extremity

The impact that distance traveled to receive treatment has on treatments and outcomes among patients with soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of the extremity has yet to be thoroughly investigated.

Information on patients treated for STS of the extremity between 2006 and 2015 was obtained from the National Cancer Database. Patients were stratified into two groups based on median distance traveled to receive treatment. Chi-square tests assessed associations between categorical variables and distance to treatment. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates and Cox regression were used to estimate survival.

The sample included 21,763 patients. The mean age was 59.3 y, 54.6% were men, and 83.2% were white. The median distance traveled to the treating facility was 15.6 miles. Compared with patients who traveled <15 miles, those who traveled ≥15 miles were more likely to have undifferentiated rather than well-differentiated tumors (odds ratio [OR], 1.23; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.10-1.37), and stage II rather than stage I disease (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.04-1.24). They were also more likely to undergo limb-sparing resection (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.39-1.79) or amputation (OR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.44-2.07) rather than no surgery and less likely to have positive margins (OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.79-0.93). There was no difference in the risk of death between patients who traveled ≥15 miles and those who did not (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.94-1.07).

Although clinical characteristics and treatments may differ based on distance traveled, survival appears equivalent. Further research into reasons why greater distance traveled is associated with more advanced disease, but comparable survival is warranted.