Current results of brachytherapy for soft tissue sarcoma.

Perioperative brachytherapy results in a better local control rate than surgery alone for extremity soft tissue sarcoma. Brachytherapy enables the delivery of a high radiation dose to a limited volume of tissue, allows the reduction of radiation treatment time, enables direct visualization of the tumor bed and surrounding critical structures, and costs less than external beam radiotherapy. The literature seems to regard the effectiveness of brachytherapy as comparable to that of external beam radiotherapy, and the side effect profile is acceptable. Traditional low-dose-rate brachytherapy methods require extended periods of patient isolation, but recent technologic advances may obviate this necessity. Newer high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy delivery methods allow for the fractionation of radiation delivery and outpatient treatment in some cases. Furthermore, with HDR brachytherapy, the radiation dose distribution can be tailored around critical anatomic structures. Although the application of HDR brachytherapy to soft tissue sarcoma is relatively new, it seems to result in a satisfactory local control rate and may replace traditional low-dose-rate techniques.