Soft tissue sarcomas.

One hundred fifty-five adult patients with "operable" soft part sarcomas including rhabdomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, leiomyosarcoma and fibrosarcoma of the trunk and extremities are reviewed. Local recurrences of 93% and 60% occurred after local and wide excisions of the primary tumor. In this series of patients, amputation was the most efficient procedure for controlling the primary site. The absolute 5 and 10-year survival rates for all groups of tumors were 50% and 26%. Development of a second primary tumor of a different cell type occurred in 9% of the patients. Local recurrence, single distant metastasis, and/or second primary tumors should be considered potentially curable and appropriate surgical and/or radiation therapy carried out.