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Myxofibrosarcoma: Prognostic Factors and Survival in a Series of Patients Treated at a Single Institution

  • Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

First described in 1977, myxofibrosarcoma is one of the most common sarcoma subtypes of the elderly. Until some years ago, myxofibrosarcoma was diagnosed as “myxoid malignant fibrous histiocytoma.” The aim of this retrospective case series analysis was to investigate prognostic factors and the clinical outcome of a cohort of patients with myxofibrosarcoma treated at a single institution.

Methods

We reviewed 158 patients with localized myxofibrosarcoma who underwent surgery at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, Italy, over 15 years. Local recurrence, distant metastases, and survival were analyzed.

Results

One hundred twenty patients had primary tumors, while 38 patients had locally recurrent tumors. Five-year overall survival was 77%. Tumor size, grade, and margins were statistically significant predictors of survival. Five-year local recurrence and distant metastases rate were 18% and 15%, respectively. Surgical margins were the only statistically significant prognosticator of local relapses. Patients treated with radiotherapy had the same prognosis as nontreated patients, but likely they had worse local presentations. The histological grade correlated with distant recurrences but not with local relapses. The value of adjuvant chemotherapy could not be determined.

Conclusions

Patients with myxofibrosarcoma have a better disease-specific survival than other sarcoma subtypes, but also a higher local relapse rate. This is likely related to the peculiar local growth pattern of these tumors. Adequate surgery should be pursued, while the role of adjuvant therapies need to be investigated.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. Federica Grosso MD

    Present address: General Hospital, Alessandria, Italy

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cancer Medicine, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Roberta Sanfilippo MD, Federica Grosso MD, Elisa Puma MD & Paolo G. Casali MD

  2. Unit of Clinical Epidemiology and Trial Organization, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Rosalba Miceli PhD & Luigi Mariani MD

  3. Department of Surgery, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Marco Fiore MD, Elisabetta Pennacchioli MD & Alessandro Gronchi MD

  4. Department of Pathology, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Marta Barisella MD

  5. Department of Radiotherapy, Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Claudia Sangalli MD

Authors
  1. Roberta Sanfilippo MD
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  2. Rosalba Miceli PhD
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  3. Federica Grosso MD
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  4. Marco Fiore MD
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  5. Elisa Puma MD
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  6. Elisabetta Pennacchioli MD
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  7. Marta Barisella MD
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  8. Claudia Sangalli MD
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  9. Luigi Mariani MD
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  10. Paolo G. Casali MD
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  11. Alessandro Gronchi MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta Sanfilippo MD.

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Sanfilippo, R., Miceli, R., Grosso, F. et al. Myxofibrosarcoma: Prognostic Factors and Survival in a Series of Patients Treated at a Single Institution. Ann Surg Oncol 18, 720–725 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-010-1341-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-010-1341-4

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