Analysis of results of soft tissue sarcoma margins revision surgery

Patients from other centres where they have had an unplanned surgical resection of a soft tissue sarcoma are often referred to hospitals specialised in sarcomas. A study was conducted on 35 patients who required this type of surgery were referred to our center between November 2001 and July 2013. Surgery had been performed on 29% of the patients without any complementary tests being done. In 75% of cases, the sarcoma diagnosis was discovered in the post-surgical histological study. Synovial sarcoma was the most common, affecting 38% of the patients. A surgical revision of the margins was performed on all of them, and adjuvant treatment was performed on 86% of them. The histopathology study found that 69% of the patients had residual disease. At the end of follow-up, 12% had a local recurrence, another 12% distant metastases, and 3% had died. Given the results, it is concluded that any tumour of the soft tissues in which malignancy is suspected has to be resected in a reference centre. If an unplanned esection was performed in another centre, it should be referred immediately in order to perform an imaging study, revision surgery, and if required, adjuvant treatment.