Surgery in soft tissue sarcoma: the thin line between a surgical or more conservative approach

Abstract

Surgery is the primary treatment for localized, clinically resectable soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, administered in the pre- or post-operative settings, have important ancillary roles in the multimodal management of primary STS. Some sarcoma centers also employ locoregional therapies such as isolated limb perfusion and deep wave hyperthermia in multimodal therapy. In advanced or metastatic STS, surgery is recommended when complete resection is feasible. Nevertheless, in certain situations there is thin line between a surgical or non-surgical approach, generally related to STS histological type/subtype, disease stage and technical considerations. In advanced STS, factors favoring surgery are isolated oligometastatic disease, long disease-free interval, suitable histology, response to chemotherapy and high probability of a complete resection.