Prognosis of post-irradiation soft-tissue sarcoma: a case-control study

Propos. - We describe clinical and pathological aspects and survival of 12 recent of radio-induced soft tissue sarcoma. Method. - We performed a single center case-control study, with 23 control matched by grade (according to Federation nationale des centres de lutte contre le cancer Grading) and by location. Survival comparison used Log Rank test. Results. - The development of these 12 cases was a result of 12 previous cancer treatment (including 4 breast cancers and 2 cervix cancers) with radiotherapy (median dose of 58 Grays). The median latency period was 10 years. There were nine women and three men. The median age was 68.5 years. The main location was chest wall (5 cases). The two main histologic subtypes were malignant histiocytofibromas (6 cases) and angiosarcomas (3 cases). Five cases were high grade. Treatments were performed with curative intent in 9 cases, including complete resection in six cases. Clinical and pathological aspects and treatments of controls were similar, but postoperative radiotherapy was most frequent and malignant histiocytofibroma was less common. Median overall survival (47 months vs. 30 months, P =0.6), median metastatic disease-free survival (37 vs. 15 m., P =0.6) and median locoregional disease-free survival (14 vs. 24 m., P =0.07) were similar for cases and control. Conclusion. - This study suggests that prognosis of radio-induced soft-tissue sarcomas is similar as other soft tissue sarcoma of same grade and same location. (C) 2004 Elsevier SAS. Tons droits reserves.