Prognostic factors, treatment, and survival in cutaneous pleomorphic sarcoma

Background: Limited information exists on the influence of demographics, tumor characteristics, and treatment on survival in cutaneous pleomorphic sarcoma (CPS). Objective: To describe incidence rates and prognostic factors affecting survival in CPS. Methods: National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data (1972-2013) was analyzed for 2423 patients with CPS diagnoses. Results: The age-adjusted incidence rate was 0.152 cases/100,000 person-years and was 4.5-fold higher in male than female patients. Male sex, white race, and increasing age[40 years were significantly associated with decreased overall survival. Head and neck tumors, tumors[15 mm, and tumors with grade III or IV histology were associated with significantly decreased survival. Surgical excision had a survival benefit compared with no treatment. Radiation therapy did not provide a survival benefit. Patients with localized disease had the greatest survival followed by regional and distant disease. Limitations: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data might not be reflective of all CPS patients. Recurrences, restaging, or other nonmortality events over time were not tracked. Conclusion: Tumor size, grade, sex, age at diagnosis, and race appear to influence survival as prognostic factors in CPS. Surgical tumor extirpation provides a survival benefit over no treatment whereas primary or adjuvant radiation does not provide a survival benefit.