Background: Retroperitoneal sarcoma is a rare disease with poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic factors of the disease.
Methods: Between January 1988 and December 2003, 132 patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma were surgically treated in our hospital, 79 of them were followed up for 1 - 122 months (median: 19 months). Their clinicopathological data including tumor size, histological subtype, grade and resection margin status, were studied. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were used to analyze the disease-specific survival rates after the resection.
Results: Among the 132 patients, 98 (74.2%) received macroscopic complete resection, 29 (22.0%) incomplete resection, and 5 (3.8%) surgical biopsy. In the 79 patients who were followed up, macroscopic clear resection of retroperitoneal sarcoma (n = 49) was associated with a significantly higher survival rate compared with unclear resection (n = 30, P < 0.001). The median survival period was 31 months (95% CI, 20.09 - 41.91; actuarial 1-year survival, 85.7%) in the patients with the tumor completely resected and 11 months (95% CI, 6.71 - 15.29; actuarial 1-year survival, 46.7%) in those with incomplete resection. Patients with high-grade sarcomas had a significantly shorter survival time (n = 39; median: 24, 95% CI: 5.71 - 42.29) than those with low-grade sarcomas (n = 40; median: 15; 95% CI: 8.80 - 21.20; P < 0.01). Moreover, compared with the patients with the tumor sized < 15 cm in diameter (n = 53), the survival rate was lower in those with a sarcoma sized > 15 cm (n = 26). (Median: 12, 95% CI: 8.26 - 15.74 vs median: 24, 95% CI: 17.25 - 30.75; P < 0.05). Furthermore, the survival of the patients with liposarcomas (n = 29, median: 29, 95% CI: 12.84 - 45.16), leiomyosarcomas (n = 14, median: 11, 95% CI: 6.11 - 15.89), and others (n = 36, median: 22, 95% CI: 14.95 - 29.05) varied significantly (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Completeness of resection, tumor volume, grade, and subtype are prognostic factors of retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas.