Sarcoma of the oral and maxillofacial soft tissue in adults.

AIMS

Sarcoma occurring in oral and maxillofacial soft tissue is rare. This study was carried out to evaluate the prevalence of oral soft tissue sarcoma and to record its natural history and survival.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis of the patients with histologically proven oral and maxillofacial soft tissue sarcoma treated at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC), Trivandrum, betweeen 1990-1998 was carried out.

RESULTS

During this period, ten cases of oral and maxillofacial sarcomas were registered. Three lesions were located on the cheek mucosa, two on the tongue and two on the mandibular alveolus, while there was one lesion each in the parotid region, maxilla and face (NOS). Mean age at presentation was 31.3+/-14.1 years (range 15-54 years). Seven of the patients (70%) were males. There were three cases of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), three cases of spindle cell sarcoma and one case each of angiosarcoma, haemangioendothelioma, malignant schwannoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH). All the patients were treated with surgery as a primary modality. Median follow-up time was 30 months (range 5-94 months). An overall srvival of 87.5% at 5 years was observed; however, 5-year disease free survival was 60.0% (95% CI 19.5-85.2).

CONCLUSIONS

Soft tissue sarcomas are of comparatively less frequent occurrence in oral and maxillofacial soft tissue than in other tissues. A good survival rate can be achieved by multimodality treatment.