Radiation therapy of soft tissue sarcomas.

Recent advances in radiation therapy in the clinical management of patients with sarcoma of soft tissue are discussed. Radical dose radiation therapy combined with limited surgery has been shown to be highly effective as treatment of early to moderately advanced sarcomas of the extremities. Desmoid tumors which are nonresectable have been treated with moderate to high radiation doses with regular success. The multimodality treatment of rhadbomysarcoma of childhood has yielded a dramatic improvement in 2-year survival figures. This approach includes radiation therapy, multidrug and multicycle chemotherapy, and surgery. Finally, the dominant importance of the histologic grade of sarcoma to the prognosis is discussed in terms of a proposed clinical staging system.