An evaluation of two methods of limb salvage in extremity soft-tissue sarcomas
H. S. Moseley
Comprehensive Cancer Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, Portland, OR 97210.
Between 1983 and 1990, 38 sequential patients with stage II to III
soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities, as defined by the American Joint
Committee on Cancer, were treated. Eighteen patients were treated with
intra-arterial doxorubicin hydrochloride, limb salvage surgery, and
radiation (group A). Twenty patients in group B were treated with
cisplatin, isolated limb perfusion, limb salvage surgery, and radiation.
The study was not randomized, but all patients were treated prospectively
using one of the two protocols. The two groups were similar demographically
and had similar lengths of survival without disease. There was only one
local recurrence in the series, and this occurred in a group B patient who
underwent perfusion with the lowest dose of cisplatin. Regional perfusion
with either intra-arterial doxorubicin hydrochloride or cisplatin combined
with limb salvage surgery and postoperative radiation are highly effective
in preventing local recurrences and preserving functional extremities in
patients with soft-tissue sarcoma. There was no difference in results
between these two methods.
