Surgical treatment of pulmonary metastases from soft tissue sarcomas: a retrospective study in The Netherlands

Sixty-seven of 87 patients with soft tissue sarcoma underwent complete resection of the metastases in the lung. In this retrospective study, follow-up was for a median of 24 months. The 5-year overall, crude and disease-free survival was 38%, 45%, and 41%, respectively. Twenty-seven (40%) patients developed a recurrence in the lung. Of the six prognostic variables, the only factor significantly related to disease-free survival was grade. It is concluded that surgery for lung metastases of soft tissue sarcoma should be considered as standard therapy when preoperative evaluation predicts a complete resection. By adding chemotherapy to surgery, an improvement of prognosis probably can be achieved.