"Our early results suggest good short-term outcome with this aggressive approach," said Christopher Ryan, M.D., lead study investigator and member of the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute. Not much data is available about preoperative tumor death, or necrosis, without chemotherapy, however an older series with a less-aggressive pre-surgery regimen resulted in a 13 percent rate of necrosis.
High-grade soft tissue sarcomas are a group of malignancies that often affect otherwise healthy young people. Tumors often appear as masses on the legs or arms, but also include gastrointestinal stromal tumors, pediatric sarcomas, and sarcomas of the uterus.
"Soft-tissue sarcoma tumors are varied and often complicated, so multidisciplinary care by an experienced sarcoma team is important to successful treatment," said Ryan, also an assistant professor of medicine (hematology and medical oncology) in the OHSU School of Medicine. "Surgical, orthopaedic, and medical oncologists; radiation oncologists; and pathologists all have important roles in treating soft-tissue sarcoma."
Sarcoma teams around the country provide preoperative chemotherapy. However, while some recent data suggest chemotherapy may help keep sarcoma from spreading, it is considered a controversial treatment because it never has clearly been shown to improve survival. Well-designed large, randomized studies have not been performed for a number of reasons, inc
'"/>
Contact: Rachel MacKnight
macknigh@ohsu.edu
503-494-8231
Oregon Health & Science University
16-May-2005