Adjuvant chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma.

Abstract

PURPOSE OF REVIEW:

To review current state-of-the-art knowledge about adjuvant medical therapy in adult soft tissue sarcomas.

RECENT FINDINGS:

Most recent contributions have added nonrandomized evidence to previously available controlled clinical trials, which were undertaken from the 1970s. Again, results are conflicting, with a limited benefit suggested by some retrospective analyses and denied by others. While a delay in relapse is likely to occur in a fraction of patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy, a permanent benefit has been more difficult to prove. This result is consistent with findings from previous clinical trials, which pointed to a slight benefit from Doxorubicin-based adjuvant chemotherapy and a possibly higher, although less evidence-based, benefit from anthracycline plus Ifosfamide regimens.

SUMMARY:

Overall, adjuvant chemotherapy may give some benefit in soft tissue sarcoma. If any, it is likely to be of limited degree, confined to the highest-risk patients, and requiring a fully active chemotherapy regimen. This was mainly shown for extremity soft tissue sarcoma but may also apply to other primary sites. The value of molecular-targeted therapy as an adjuvant for high-risk gastrointestinal stromal tumor patients is a different subject awaiting long-term results of ongoing trials.

• Authors: Paolo G Casali, Piero Picci
• Journal: Current opinion in oncology (Curr Opin Oncol) Vol. 17 Issue 4 Pg. 361-5 (Jul 2005) ISSN: 1040-8746 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15933469 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Antineoplastic Agents

Topics

• Antineoplastic Agents (therapeutic use)
• Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Combined Modality Therapy
• Humans
• Sarcoma (drug therapy, therapy)
• Soft Tissue Neoplasms (drug therapy, therapy)