Extremity soft tissue sarcoma: does surgical margin impact survival?

Objective: To define the impact of surgical margins on local recurrence (LR), distant recurrence (DR) and overall survival (OS) in patients with soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities (eSTS). Method: Patients treated for a primary eSTS from 2006 to 2010 were analyzed. Rates of local recurrence, distant recurrence, and overall survival were estimated using the Kaplan -Meier method. The association of possible prognostic factors such as local recurrence, metastasis, and survival was performed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results: 128 patients were analyzed. The surgical margins were positive (R1 re-section) in 22.7% and negative in 77.3%. The LR was 27%, the DR was 13% (70% of the population was free of disease at 5 years) and OS at 5 years was 84%. The prognostic factors for OS at 5 years were clinical stage, type and histological grade. The surgical margin had no impact on OS. Conclusions: Although an adequate oncological resection cannot be underesti-mated, this should be considered in the decision of the optimal treatment of eSTS when amputation or significant functional impairment of the limb is required to obtain negative surgical margins.