Retroperitoneal Sarcomas—An SOS to Colleagues in Europe

Excerpt

Caudle and colleagues from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine report a retrospective review of 14 patients with primary or locally recurrent retroperitoneal sarcomas treated over a 10-year period with preoperative radiation and subsequent surgery.1 The authors report acceptable treatment-related complication rates and 1- and 2-year local control rates of 64% and 50%, respectively. Because this small series includes patients with primary tumors and patients with locally recurrent disease (disease subsets with very different natural histories), the event-free outcome data are less robust than those reported in larger series. Indeed, a 2-year local control rate of 50% does not make a compelling case for the use of radiation plus surgery. However, these local control findings may be the result of case mix, selection bias (perhaps only the “worst” cases were referred for consideration of preoperative treatment), or the small number of cases. …