Chemotherapy used infrequently to treat patients of localized sarcoma

Patients with localized soft tissue sarcoma (STS) are managed with surgery with or without radiation.

Although experts have debated the benefit of chemotherapy for people with localized sarcoma, several studies, including a recent randomized clinical trial, have demonstrated that chemotherapy can prolong the survival of patients with larger, more aggressive sarcomas. Because chemotherapy targets the cancer cells that have started escaping from the tumor and moving on to other places, such as the lungs or liver, it's often the only way to prevent or reduce the risk of the cancer spreading. Although it can cause side effects, like nausea and hair loss, chemotherapy can help prolong survival or even help cure patients of the disease.

Other studies, however, have not found a clear benefit to chemotherapy for treating localized, so there is a lack of clear guidelines on the role, number of agents or timing of chemotherapy for managing high-risk sarcoma in adults.

Using the National Cancer Database, researchers analyzed patterns of care for 19,969 adults who underwent surgery for primary high-grade soft tissue sarcoma from 2004 to 2016.