Oncological and functional outcomes of planned and unplanned excision of soft tissue sarcoma: A retrospective study

In soft tissue sarcomas, the oncological and functional outcomes between planned excision and unplanned excision with additional wide resection remains controversial. The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of unplanned excision on oncological and functional outcomes.

A retrospective single-center study was performed. Patients with soft tissue sarcoma surgically treated in 2005-2019 were included in this study. A total of 120 patients consisting of planned excision (PE) group (n = 88), and unplanned excision (UE) group (n = 32) were included. Overall-survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), metastasis-free survival (MFS), disease-free survival (DFS), incidence rate of reconstructive surgery and musculoskeletal tumor society (MSTS) score were assessed. Propensity score matching method was used in statistical analysis.

The 5-year survival rate of OS, LRFS, MFS, and DFS did not differ between the PE and UE groups, however, rates of reconstructive surgery were higher in the UE group (PE: 48% vs. UE: 84%, p < 0.001). These results did not differ (PE: 41% vs. UE: 82%, p = 0.012) after propensity score matching was performed to align the backgrounds with difference in tumor size and depth. For MSTS score, the total score and "pain" and "emotional acceptance" scores were higher in the PE group before propensity score matching. The "pain" and "emotional acceptance" scores were higher in the PE group after propensity score matching also.

Unplanned excision did not deteriorate oncological outcomes, however unplanned excision lead to unnecessary reconstructive surgery. Unplanned excision adversely affected patient-reported outcomes without worsening pure functional outcomes.