Adult type (nonembryonal) soft tissue sarcomas in childhood

Nonembryonal soft tissue sarcomas are rare in childhood. We report our experience from a series of 28 patients treated at this centre, whose treatment was based on primary surgical resection. No patient required limb amputation. Anatomical distribution and histological subtypes differed from the adult sarcoma population. A total of 79 percent of the sarcomas were classified as high grade. Six patients (21%) developed local recurrence, and 6 patients (21%) developed distant recurrence, including 3 patients (11%) who developed both. Median follow-up was 57 months. Actuarial 5 years survival was 82%, which compares favorably with the 5 year survival of adults with high grade soft tissue sarcomas treated at this centre (63%) and with the survival of children with embryonal sarcomas treated by chemotherapy.