Liposarcoma: the Manitoba experience

In a retrospective review all cases of liposarcoma recorded in the province of Manitoba from 1944 to 1978 were studied. There were 104 patients. Follow-up was obtained in all. Sites of tumour were peripheral limb in 45 patients, limb girdle in 15, retroperitoneal area in 23 and trunk and neck in 21. Fifty-seven percent of the patients were men: the disease was most commonly found in patients aged 50 to 69 years. Initial treatment was excision in 96 patients with irradiation in 26 and chemotherapy in 6. The 5- and 10-year survival rates were 60% and 49% respectively. In those who had definitive surgery the prognosis was somewhat better, while radiotherapy had little beneficial effect. Prognosis was also related to the pathologic type; well differentiated and myxoid types had a better prognosis than round cell or pleomorphic tumours. Trunk and peripheral limb tumours were associated with higher survival rates than limb girdle or retroperitoneal neoplasms. At least 37 patients had local recurrences; distant metastases occurred in at least 26, most commonly to the lungs, bones and liver. Unusual cases consisted of a patient with a multicentric tumour involving bones, a young boy with a neck liposarcoma and a woman with a breast liposarcoma.