[Adjuvant chemotherapy in soft tissue sarcomas]

21 patients with soft tissue sarcomas were treated after surgery with adriamycin alone or in combination with other drugs. 13 patients had additional local radiotherapy. 12 of thde 21 patients received chemotherapy as an adjuvant to surgery. 19 patients concurrently receiving palliative treatment for advanced soft tissue sarcoma in the form of adriamycin and adriamycin combinations served as controls. Results collected to date point to an improvement in the prognosis of soft tissue sarcomas, when radical surgery is followed by intensive subsequent cytostatic treatment. However, the present results await confirmation from prospective randomized studies now taking place. Some of the side effects of this treatment were very pronounced and led to the premature interruption of the trial in 24% of cases.