Overall survival in abdominal wall sarcoma treated with curative intent surgery: A retrospective study from two European referral centres

Abstract

Introduction: Primary abdominal wall sarcomas are rare, heterogeneous tumours.The mainstay of management is surgery, although local recurrences (LR) and distant metastases (DM) are common.Objectives: Overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were primary outcomes; factors associated with prognosis secondary outcomes. Materials and Methods: Patients undergoing surgery of primary abdominal wall sarcomas between April 2008 and May 2018 were identified at two referrals centres for sarcoma surgery. Patient demographics, tumour and treatment-related characteristics were recorded and analysed.Results: A cohort of 65 patients underwent surgical resection with a median followup of 56 months, 5-year OS and DFS were 69% and 71%, respectively. Eleven patients (16.9%) experienced a recurrence event: 6 LR (9.2%), 10 DM (15.4%) and 5 both (7.7%). At univariate analysis, size (p = 0.03), grade (p = 0.001) and depth (p = 0.04) were associated with OS while size (p = 0.02) was associated with DFS. No significant relationship with tumour depth, type of surgery, surgical margin status or neo-/adjuvant treatment was demonstrated. Conclusion:Recurrence events are less common following treatment of abdominal wall sarcomas if compared to extremities STSs, but size (≥5 cm), high malignancy grade (FNCLCC 3) and depth are associated with worse OS.