BACKGROUND: The development of secondary soft tissue sarcomas after chemo-radiotherapy is a rare and little known event, but its frequency is increasing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report two cases of secondary soft tissue sarcomas. The first is the case of a 51-year-old woman treated for Hodgkin's disease with chemotherapy and radiotherapy 15 years before she developed a high-grade malignant pleural sarcoma. The patient had no history of asbestos exposure. The second is the case of a 64-year-old woman with a giant cell malignant histiocytoma secondary to colorectal cancer treated with surgery and radiotherapy nine years before. The patients were not eligible for surgery or radiotherapy. Both were treated with chemotherapy (ifosfamide and epirubicin) without any relevant secondary effects; however, the response to therapy was poor. CONCLUSIONS: The causes of secondary malignancies are multifactorial, but radiation therapy and chemotherapy are certainly implicated in the development of post-therapy neoplasms that are difficult to treat.
BACKGROUND: The development of secondary soft tissue sarcomas after chemo-radiotherapy is a rare and little known event, but its frequency is increasing. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report two cases of secondary soft tissue sarcomas. The first is the case of a 51-year-old woman treated for Hodgkin's disease with chemotherapy and radiotherapy 15 years before she developed a high-grade malignant pleural sarcoma. The patient had no history of asbestos exposure. The second is the case of a 64-year-old woman with a giant cell malignant histiocytoma secondary to colorectal cancer treated with surgery and radiotherapy nine years before. The patients were not eligible for surgery or radiotherapy. Both were treated with chemotherapy (ifosfamide and epirubicin) without any relevant secondary effects; however, the response to therapy was poor. CONCLUSIONS: The causes of secondary malignancies are multifactorial, but radiation therapy and chemotherapy are certainly implicated in the development of post-therapy neoplasms that are difficult to treat.