LIMB-SPARING TREATMENT FOR SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMAS - INFLUENCE OF PROGNOSTIC FACTORS

At present, limb-sparing surgery is the most appropriate and acceptabl e treatment available for sarcomas of the extremities, although the ri ght balance between conservative therapy and maximum efficacy has yet to be found. A better knowledge of prognostic factors may help in plan ning the appropriate strategy for each case. Eighty patients underwent limb-sparing surgery for limb sarcomas (17 had surgery alone; 19 had neo-adjuvant hyperthermic antiblastic perfusion combined or not with p ostoperative radiotherapy, and 44 had adjuvant radiotherapy). Univaria te and multivariate analyses were made to detect statistically signifi cant differences between subgroups and identify the more significant s ubset of prognostic factors. Only microscopically positive surgical ma rgins were related to a greater risk of local recurrence, whereas over all survival was compromised by high grade and large tumor size. (C) 1 996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.