Follow-up after primary treatment of soft tissue sarcoma of extremities: Impact of frequency of follow-up imaging on disease-specific survival

• Published in: Journal of surgical oncology 2012-08, Vol.106 (2), p.155-161
• Main Authors: Chou, Yi-Sheng, Liu, Chun-Yu, Chen, Wei-Ming, Chen, Tain-Hsiung, Chen, Paul Chih-Hsueh, Wu, Hung-Ta Hondar, Chiou, Hong-Jen, Shiau, Cheng-Ying, Wu, Yu-Chung, Liu, Chien-Lin, Chao, Ta-Chung, Tzeng, Cheng-Hwai, Yen, Chueh-Chuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Cohort Studies; Diagnostic Imaging - methods; Disease-Free Survival; disease-specific survival; Extremities - pathology; Extremities - surgery; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous - mortality; Histiocytoma, Malignant Fibrous - surgery; Humans; Leiomyosarcoma - mortality; Leiomyosarcoma - surgery; Liposarcoma - mortality; Liposarcoma - surgery; Male; Middle Aged; Neoadjuvant Therapy - methods; Neoplasm Grading; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - diagnosis; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - prevention & control; Neoplasm Staging; Population Surveillance - methods; radiological imaging; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; Retrospective Studies; Risk Assessment; Risk Factors; Sarcoma - mortality; Sarcoma - pathology; Sarcoma - prevention & control; Sarcoma - therapy; Sarcoma, Synovial - mortality; Sarcoma, Synovial - surgery; Soft Tissue Neoplasms - mortality; Soft Tissue Neoplasms - pathology; Soft Tissue Neoplasms - prevention & control; Soft Tissue Neoplasms - therapy; soft tissue sarcoma; Survival Analysis; Time Factors; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0022-4790; 1096-9098
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.23060

Background and Objectives We explored the impact of frequency of surveillance imaging on disease‐specific survival (DSS) in patients with extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS). Methods Locoregional imaging (LRI) and chest imaging (CI) were used to detect local recurrence (LR) and distant metastasis (DM), respectively. Relapsing patients were retrospectively assigned to more frequent surveillance (MFS) or less frequent surveillance (LFS) groups, according to the median interval for each follow‐up modality. Outcome measures included overall DSS (O‐DSS), post‐LR DSS, and post‐DM DSS. Results We assigned 165 patients to three distinct risk groups according to tumor size (≤5 vs. >5 cm), depth (superficial‐ vs. deep‐seated), grade (I vs. II or III), and surgical margin (≥10 vs.