LOCAL RECURRENCE OF SOFT-TISSUE SARCOMA A RISK FACTOR FOR LATE METASTASES - 379 PATIENTS FOLLOWED FOR 0.5-20 YEARS

We performed a retrospective analysis of 379 adult patients treated fo r soft tissue sarcoma. None had metastasis at the time of diagnosis an d all were treated surgically. Patients who developed metastatic disea se before the local recurrence were excluded. The 8-year metastasis-fr ee survival rate in the group of 261 patients with local tumor control was 0.72, compared to 0.67 in the 118 patients with local recurrence (P 0.2). Multiple regression analysis showed that high-grade malignanc y and large tumor size were risk factors for metastases. Local recurre nce was not a risk factor. However, when patients with small and/or lo w-grade tumors were analyzed separately, local recurrence emerged as a risk factor. In this group of patients, the 8-year survival rate was 0.87 for those with local control and 0.64 for those with local recurr ence (P 0.004). Local recurrence appears to be a risk factor for the d evelopment of late metastases in patients who otherwise have a low ris k of metastases.