The treatment of soft tissue sarcomas of limbs should be discussed within an experienced multimodality team. Surgical resection remains the cornerstone of therapy for localized disease and achieves a five years overall survival around 75% and a local recurrence rate as low as 10% in the best series. In complex cases, neo-adjuvant treatments may be used such as systemic chemotherapy, isolated limb perfusion, or radiotherapy to achieve an optimal conservative approach. Molecular genetics of sarcomas and quality of margins are essential to guide diagnosis and therapeutic selection. In case of marginal or incomplete resection, a new enlarged surgical resection should always be discussed before administration of any adjuvant treatments. Many retrospective studies and two randomized studies (one of adjuvant brachytherapy and one of external beam radiotherapy) have shown that adjuvant radiotherapy after complete surgery significantly reduces the risk of local recurrence in extremity soft tissue sarcomas. A randomized study has compared pre- to postoperative radiotherapy. The results in terms of local control are similar in both arms. The risk of surgical complications is higher in the preoperative arm and the risk of late sequelae is higher in the postoperative arm. A randomized study within the French sarcoma group is ongoing evaluating the omission of postoperative radiotherapy in favourable cases. Presently, the role of systematic first-line invasive treatment (including surgery and/or radiotherapy) of desmoids is debated. It is becoming evident that up to 50% of patients with desmoids benefit from a front-line non-aggressive policy, because growth arrest is a common feature of this disease. Additional study of the molecular determinants of desmoid behaviour is needed to guide treatment.
Copyright © 2010. Published by Elsevier SAS.