THE BENEFITS OF SURGERY IN THE TREATMENT OF PELVIC METASTASES

This retrospective study analyses the benefit of surgery to patients w ith pelvic metastases. Forty-three patients were operated on between 1 980 and 1992, 37 having intralesional and 6 extralesional resections. Thirty-nine had perioperative adjuvant therapy. Survival time was calc ulated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Clinical evaluation used the Karnof sky performance status which showed improvement front 55% before opera tion to 74% at 3 months (p = 0.0001) and 77% after 6 months (p = 0.000 1). Those having an intralesional resection had a median survival time of 13 months, a complication rate of 24% and a local recurrence rate of 19%. The comparable figures for those with extralesional resection were 16 months survival, complications in 3 out of 6, and no local rec urrences. The quality of life was improved by operation and intralesio nal resection is preferable in most of these patients.