Liposarcoma: A clinicopathological study of 73 cases diagnosed at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre

Background: Liposarcoma is one of the most common adult soft tissue sarcoma s, being second only to malignant fibrous histiocytoma. It ranges from the well-differentiated lipoma-like and myxoid tumors, to extremely cellular or pleomorphic malignant neoplasms. The clinical behavior is variable and ref lects the variable microscopic picture. Patients and Methods: Clinicopathological studies of liposarcoma in Saudi A rabia are lacking. In this study, we reviewed all liposarcoma cases reporte d at KFSH&RC from 1981 to 1996. Seventy-three cases of liposarcoma were stu died morphologically. The cases were classified using the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Data regarding follow-up, mode of therap y, recurrence and survival status were available for 37 cases (50.68%). Sur vival analysis was performed. The patients' ages ranged from 15-94 years, w ith peak incidence between the ages 40 and 60 years. There was a male predo minance of 1.3:1. Results: The most common location was the thigh (36 cases), accounting for 49.3% of cases, followed by the retroperitoneum (16 cases), accounting for 21.9%. The most common histologic type was myxoid liposarcoma (41 cases; 56 .2%), followed by well-differentiated liposarcoma (16 cases; 21.9%), includ ing dedifferentiated liposarcoma (5 cases; 6.8%), pleomorphic liposarcoma ( 13 cases 17.8%) and round-cell liposarcoma (3 cases; 4.1%). Twenty-two pati ents (59.45%) were treated by surgery only, and 13 patients (35.13%) were t reated by a combination of surgery and postoperative radiotherapy. One pati ent was treated by surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and died one mon th after diagnosis. Another patient was treated by radiotherapy alone and i s still alive after a four-year follow-up period. The correlation between s urvival and recurrence with tumor type, location in regard to surgical acce ssibility, and mode of therapy, was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Site, histologic type and completeness of surgical excision wer e the most important factors in predicting prognosis and planning therapy f or patients with liposarcoma. The overall prognosis depends on many variabl e factors. Complete surgical excision reduces the recurrence rate. The role of chemotherapy and radiotherapy is not well established.