Lymph node metastasis from soft tissue sarcoma in adults: Analysis of data from a prospective database of 1772 sarcoma patients Journal Article


Authors: Fong, Y.; Coit, D. G.; Woodruff, J. M.; Brennan, M. F.
Article Title: Lymph node metastasis from soft tissue sarcoma in adults: Analysis of data from a prospective database of 1772 sarcoma patients
Abstract: To examine the natural history of lymph node metastasis from sarcomas and the utility of therapeutic lymphadenectomy, clinical histories of all adult patients identified by a prospective sarcoma database for the 10-year period July 1982 to July 1991 were examined. Of the 1772 sarcoma patients, 46 (2.6%) were identified with lymph node metastasis. Median follow-up of all patients from diagnosis of lymph node metastasis was 12.9 months (range, 0 to 100 months). Median survival for nonsurvivors was 12.7 months (range, 0 to 40.7). The tumor types with the highest incidence of lymph node metastasis are angiosarcoma (5/37 total cases; 13.5%), embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS) (12/88 total cases; 13.6%), and epithelioid sarcoma (2/ 12 total cases; 16.7%). Lymph node metastasis from visceral primary (p = 0.004) and malignant fibrous histiocytomas (p = 0.006) were associated with particularly poor prognosis. Thirty-one patients underwent radical, therapeutic lymphadenectomy with curative intent, whereas 15 patients had less than curative procedures, in most cases biopsy only. Patients not treated with radical lymphadenectomy had a median survival of 4.3 months (range, 1 to 32) whereas radical lymphadenectomy was associated with a 16.3 month median survival and the only long-term survivors (46% 5-year survival by Kaplan-Meier). The authors conclude that lymph node metastases from sarcoma are rare in adults, but vigilance is warranted, especially in angiosarcoma, ERMS, and epithelioid subtypes. Radical lymphadenectomy is appropriate treatment for isolated metastasis to regional lymph nodes and may provide long-term survival.
Keywords: adolescent; adult; cancer survival; clinical article; aged; aged, 80 and over; survival analysis; survival rate; cancer patient; follow up; follow-up studies; lymph node metastasis; cancer diagnosis; lymphatic metastasis; prospective study; lymph node excision; prospective studies; angiosarcoma; data base; sarcoma; data analysis; soft tissue sarcoma; dermatofibroma; epithelioid sarcoma; lymph node biopsy; soft tissue neoplasms; embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma; middle age; prognosis; human; male; female; priority journal; article; support, u.s. gov't, p.h.s.
Journal Title: Annals of Surgery
Volume: 217
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0003-4932
Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins  
Date Published: 1993-01-01
Start Page: 72
End Page: 77
Language: English
DOI: 10.1097/00000658-199301000-00012
PUBMED: 8424704
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC1242736
DOI/URL:
Notes: Source: Scopus
Altmetric
Citation Impact
BMJ Impact Analytics
MSK Authors
  1. Murray F Brennan
    1059 Brennan
  2. Yuman Fong
    775 Fong
  3. Daniel Coit
    542 Coit
  4. James M Woodruff
    162 Woodruff