Current situation of soft tissue sarcomas: Registry of a Latin American cancer institute.

INTRODUCTION: Soft tissue sarcomas (SFT) are a group of rare and heterogeneous neoplasms (representing less than 1% of cancer in adults and 15% in pediatric patients), for which there is no updated records in the Latin American population. This study aims to describe the current situation of patients treated at a cancer institute in Latin America.

METHODS: We obtained records from 250 patients with a diagnosis of SFT, treated at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases of Peru (INEN) during the period 2009-2013, with a mean follow-up of 62 months. The following data were recorded: epidemiological, clinical, treatment and follow-up. The analysis of global survival was done with the Cox proportional hazards model.

RESULTS: SFT showed a greater frequency in males (60.8%), with a peak incidence after 50 years of age (69.6%). Tumor location was predominantly in the lower extremities (64.4%), and the most frequent histologic subtypes were: undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (34%) and liposarcomas (25.6%); clinical stage iii was the most frequent (30.8%). The 5-year overall survival rate was 63.9%, while the statistical analysis found a significant association between global survival and the variables: age (>50 years), tumor size (>5cm), depth (subfascial), histologic grade (G3), local and distant recurrence, showing shorter survival times in these groups.

CONCLUSIONS: This study has clarified the epidemiology, treatment and prognosis, as well as the variables that have an impact on the survival of the Latin American patients with SFT studied.