Abstract
Background Retroperitoneal (RPS) and intra-abdominal sarcomas (IAS) are associated with poor local and abdominal tumor control. Yet, the benefit of preoperative radio- or chemotherapy alone for these entities currently is unclear. Moreover, as intermediate- and high-grade sarcomas have a tendency for early metastasis, exploration of neoadjuvant strategies is of high importance. This analysis reports the results of our 20-year single-institution experience with preoperative neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation.Methods From 2000-2019, 27 patients with intermediate- or high-grade RPS or IAS (12 dedifferentiated liposarcoma, 10 leiomyosarcoma, 5 others) were treated with radiotherapy (median dose: 50.4 Gy; range 45-75 Gy) and two cycles of chemotherapy (doxorubicin 50mg/m² BSA/d3 q28 and ifosfamide 1.5g/m2 BSA/d1-5 q28) in neoadjuvant intention. Chemotherapy consisted of doxorubicin alone in two cases and ifosfamide alone in one case. Fifteen patients (56%) received deep regional hyperthermia additionally.Results The median follow-up time was 53 months (± 56.7 months). 92% of patients received two cycles of chemotherapy as planned and 92% underwent surgery. At 5 and 10 years, abdominal-recurrence-free-survival was 74.6% (± 10.1%) and 66.3% (± 11.9%), distant-metastasis-free-survival was 67.2% (± 9.7%) and 59.7% (± 11.1%), and overall-survival was 60.3% (± 10.5%) and 60.3% (± 10.5%), respectively. CTC grade III and IV toxicities were leukocytopenia (85%), thrombocytopenia (33%) and anemia (11%). There were no treatment-related deaths.Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy with and without hyperthermia for retroperitoneal and intra-abdominal sarcoma is feasible and provided high local control of intermediate - and high-grade sarcoma.
A rare discovery in the left atrium: A high-grade sarcoma with cerebral metastasis
