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Radiation therapy for retroperitoneal sarcoma

  • Radiotherapy
  • Published:
La radiologia medica Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS) are rare tumours with an annual reported incidence of 2.7 per million persons. In spite of improvements in both diagnostic imaging and therapeutic strategies, patients afflicted by RPS still have poor prognoses. There are currently many different therapeutic strategies for these rare tumours and combining several different multi-modality strategies have not proved to have superior long-term clinical results. This review analyses the available published data and discusses multi-modality management of this rare entity. In particular, the role of radiation therapy, treatment-related side effects and the use of modern radiation treatment techniques will be discussed.

Materials and methods

A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed in January 2011. Relevant international articles published from January 1980 to January 2011 were assessed. The keywords for search purposes were: retroperitoneum, sarcoma, radiotherapy, and radiation therapy. The search was limited to articles published in English. All articles were read in full by the authors and selected for inclusion based on relevance to this article.

Conclusions

The addition of radiation therapy (RT) to wide surgical excision for RPS has improved local control rates when compared with surgery alone. Preoperative RT is preferred over postoperative RT. New types and delivery techniques in radiation therapy could further improve patient outcomes. Emerging therapies that employ charged particles (such as protons and carbon ions) are expected to be superior in sparing of normal tissues and efficacy over conventional photon therapy radiation, due to their physical and radiobiological properties.

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Conflict of interest

Jeffrey Tuan, Viviana Vitolo, Barbara Vischioni, Alberto Iannalfi, Maria Rosaria Fiore, Piero Fossati, Roberto Orecchia declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fondazione CNAO, Strada Privata Campeggi 53, 27100, Pavia, Italy

    Jeffrey Tuan, Viviana Vitolo, Barbara Vischioni, Alberto Iannalfi, Maria Rosaria Fiore, Piero Fossati & Roberto Orecchia

  2. National Cancer Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Jeffrey Tuan

  3. University of Milan, Milan, Italy

    Piero Fossati & Roberto Orecchia

  4. Istituto Europeo di Oncologia, Milan, Italy

    Roberto Orecchia

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  1. Jeffrey Tuan
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  2. Viviana Vitolo
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  3. Barbara Vischioni
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Tuan.

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Tuan, J., Vitolo, V., Vischioni, B. et al. Radiation therapy for retroperitoneal sarcoma. Radiol med 119, 790–802 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11547-013-0350-3

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