Soft tissue sarcomas in Osaka, Japan (1962-1985): review of 290 cases

Two hundred and ninety patients with soft tissue sarcomas (STS) in Osaka, Japan, were reviewed. The patients' ages ranged from one month to 84 years (mean 51 years) with a male to female ratio of 1.23:1. The tumors were located in the extremities (120 cases), the trunk (76 cases), the abdominal cavity (40 cases), and the head and neck (43 cases). Histologically the tumors were classified as malignant fibrous histiocytoma (101 cases, 34.8%), liposarcoma (28 cases, 9.7%), synovial sarcoma (24 cases, 8.3%), rhabdomyosarcoma (23 cases, 7.9%), neurogenic sarcoma (20 cases, 6.9%), fibrosarcoma (16 cases, 5.5%), leiomyosarcoma (16 cases, 5.5%) and others. From the present study, it appears that there are no significant differences between STS in Japan and Western countries with regard to the distributions of histological type and primary site.