Soft-tissue Sarcomas in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Asian Pac J Cancer Prev, 14 (11), [6821][6822][6823][6824][6825][6826][6827][6828][6829][6830][6831][6832] Introduction Soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of rare tumours. More than 50 STS histotypes have been identified, with most having unique clinical, prognostic, and therapeutic features. Although less than 1% of all adult malignant tumours are STS (Fletcher et al., 2002a), their treatment and management is complex because many tumour-related (eg, histotype, site, size, depth, grade, primary vs recurrent) (Singer et al., 1994;2000;Pisters et al., 1996) and treatment-related (eg, surgical margins, use of adjuvant therapy) (Singer et al., 2000) factors influence patient outcomes. Because these factors are inherently variable and because STS is rare, the management of patients with STS is best undertaken by an experienced multidisciplinary team in specialist centres to minimise recurrence, maximise survival, and preserve functionality and quality of life (Ray-Coquard et al., 2004;Luis et al., 2010; National Comprehensive Cancer Network, 2012).The standard primary treatment for STS is surgical AbstractBackground: Soft-tissue sarcomas require tailored and multidisciplinary treatment and management. However, little is known about how sarcomas are treated and managed throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Materials and Methods: MEDLINE was systematically searched using prespecified criteria. Publications (previous 10 years) that reported tumour characteristics, treatment patterns, survival outcomes, and/or safety outcomes of patients with soft-tissue sarcoma were selected. Exclusion criteria were studies of patients <18 years of age; ≤10 patients; countries other than Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, or Thailand; >20% benign tumours; sarcomas located in bones or joints; gastrointestinal stromal tumour; Kaposi's sarcoma; or not reporting relevant outcomes. Results: Of the 1,822 publications retrieved, 35 (32 studies) were included. Nearly all patients (98%, 1,992/2,024; 31 studies) were treated with surgery, and more studies used adjuvant radiotherapy than chemotherapy (24 vs 17 studies). Survival outcomes and recurrence rates varied among the studies because of the different histotypes, sites, and disease stages assessed. Only 5 studies reported safety findings. Conclusions: These findings highlight the lack of specific data available about soft-tissue sarcomas in the Asia-Pacific region. Better efforts to understand how the sarcoma is managed and treated will help improve patient outcomes in the region.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of extremity soft tissue sarcomas at Thailand’s national tertiary referral center

“…However, the median tumor size of 9 cm in both the chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy groups in this study were larger than the median tumor size of 8.6 cm and 7.5 cm in the chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy groups in the EORTC trial, respectively 12 . The predominant histological subtype in this study was UPS (26/58, 45%), which is higher than the 29% and 18% rates reported from the ISG trial 9 , EORTC trial 13 , respectively, but similar to 27% rate reported by Roger et al 19 Synovial sarcoma in this study was 8.9% (5/58), which is considerably lower than the 25% rate in the ISG and the 14% rate in the EORTC trial 9,13 . A total of 87% (50/58) of patients had negative surgical margin, which was higher than 37%, 38% and 37% reported in the EORTC, Taiwan and Korean studies, respectively 13,18,20 .…”

Computed Tomography Manifestations of Histologic Subtypes of Retroperitoneal Liposarcoma

“…Some retrospective analysis shows nearly all patients are treated with surgery, and more studies use adjuvant radiotherapy than chemotherapy (Ngan et al, 2013;Yetisyigit et al, 2013). In an effort to complement surgery, with inherent limitations of resection and high recurrence and the canceration rate of LPS, the administration of other treatment modalities, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, has been tried (Cui et al, 2012;Gronchi et al, 2014).…”

Incidences of Primary Soft Tissue Sarcoma Diagnosed on Extremities and Trunk Wall

“…3 – 9 In recent years, an increasing incidence of STS has also been revealed in several studies. 3 – 6 However, specific data on STS in the Asia-Pacific region are rare, 10 and only 2 studies reporting the incidence patterns of sarcomas in Asia are available. 11 , 12 By using the nationwide Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR) database, the incidences related to bone cancer in the Taiwanese population have been reported in our previously published results.…”