Surgical management of soft tissue sarcomas, with an analysis of 313 cases

From 1964 to 1978, 313 patients, 192 males and 121 females, with soft tissue sarcoma underwent surgery in our hospital. All patients have been followed up for over 5 years. One hundred ninety patients (60.7%) had recurrence of the tumor after previous surgery. The tumor was located in the head in 55 cases, in the trunk in 136, and in the extremities in 122 cases. Regional lymph node metastases occurred in 23 patients (7.4%). Fibrosarcoma, neurofibrosarcoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma were the types most commonly encountered in this series. The 5-year survival rate, according to the extent of surgical resection for 117 patients with local resection, was 47.9%; for 75 patients with wide local resection, 62.7%; for 43 patients with amputation, 18.6%; and for 78 patients with local resection combined with irradiation, 48.7%. For the whole series, the 5- and 10-year survival rates were 47.6% and 35.8%, respectively. The 5-year survival rates of stages I, II, III, and IV (TNM classification) were 60%, 46.9%, 40%, and 22.2%, respectively.