Retroperitoneal undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma with total nephrectomy: a case report and literature review

Kai Yu; Lan Wang; Fan Bu; Jingxuan Zhang; Yubin Hai; Rui Hu; Ji Lu; Xiaoju Shi

doi:10.3389/fsurg.2023.1166764

Retroperitoneal undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma with total nephrectomy: a case report and literature review

Front Surg. 2023 Jun 15:10:1166764. doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2023.1166764. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Kai Yu¹, Lan Wang², Fan Bu³, Jingxuan Zhang², Yubin Hai², Rui Hu¹, Ji Lu¹, Xiaoju Shi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Urology, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
² Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
³ Department of Plastic and Aesthetic Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.

Abstract

Background: Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is a highly malignant soft tissue sarcoma with a poor prognosis and no clear effective clinical means for treatment, and there has been no significant progress in research within this field in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the epidemiology, etiology, clinical features, diagnostic modalities, various treatment modalities, and prognosis of retroperitoneal undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma and to contribute to the clinical management of this type of disease. In this study, we report a case of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma with a primary origin in the retroperitoneum. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma occurring in the retroperitoneum is rarely reported.

Case description: A 59-year-old man with abdominal distension and pain for 4 months presented to our hospital after the failure of conservative treatment. A 9.6 cm by 7.4 cm mass in the left retroperitoneum was found on a CT scan of the whole abdomen with three degrees of enhancement. After surgical treatment, the tumor and the left kidney were completely removed, and pathological examination and genetic sequencing showed an apparent undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. The patient subsequently declined follow-up treatment and is currently alive and well.

Conclusions: At the current level of clinical technology, the treatment of undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma is still in the exploratory stage, and the scarcity of clinical cases of this disease may have hindered the acquisition of clinical trials and research data for this disease. At present, the first choice of treatment for undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma is still radical resection. In the existing clinical studies, there are no strong data to support the effect of preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in clinical practice. Similar to other diseases, the use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy before and after surgery may be a potential treatment for this disease in the future. Targeted therapy for this disease still needs further exploration, and we need more reports on related diseases to promote future treatment and research on this disease.

Keywords: case report; diagnosis; pleomorphic undifferentiated sarcoma; retroperitoneum; treatment.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

This study was funded by the Science and Technology Development Project of Jilin Province, China (20200201315JC), The Cross-Discipline Project of The First Hospital of Jilin University, China (JDYYJCHX2020001), and the Bethune Urological Oncology Special Grant, Beijing Bethune Charity Foundation (mnzl202022). Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Plan project (20210204183YY).