Article
Therapy-induced tumor regression in adult soft tissue sarcomas
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Published: | March 20, 2006 |
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Morphological findings of 21 soft tissue sar-comas of adulthood following preoperative chemo- and/or radiotherapy including per-fusion therapy and resection are present-ed. The therapy-induced changes included a spectrum ranging from total tumor regres-sion up to still completely vital tumor (medi-an of all cases: 30% vital tumor tissue). 7 of 21 sarcomas (33%) were evaluated as responders (grade I–III). So-called malig-nant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) revealed a good tumor response to preoperatively ad-ministered therapy (regression grades I and II). Myxoid/round-cell liposarcoma exhibit-ed regression grades of IV–V (i.e. 30% up to 95% vital tumor tissue, non-responders). Sy-novial sarcoma was characterized by regres-sion grades III up to VI (i.e. up to 100% vi-tal tumor tissue without any signs of regres-sion, 83% non-responders). Completely vi-tal tumor was evident in 2 synovial sarco-mas despite preoperative tumor therapy. These findings hint towards differences in response of distinct sarcoma entities to preoperative chemo-/radiotherapy. A grad-ing of therapy-induced tumor regression in adult soft tissue sarcomas may best re-fer to already established grading schemes (e.g. according to the grading scheme for osteosarcomas following chemotherapy of Salzer-Kuntschik). A report of sarcoma re-section specimens should include the per-centage of vital tumor tissue.