Major vascular reconstruction for limb salvage in patients with soft tissue and skeletal sarcomas of the extremities.

Thirteen patients with sarcomas of the extremities have been treated with radical en bloc resection requiring vascular reconstruction as initial treatment. In one instance, vascular reconstruction failed. Eight patients are currently alive and free of disease. There were two instances of a local recurrence. Each of the remaining five patients who died had distant metastases develop, none of whom had a local recurrence. Vascular reconstruction with prosthetic bone replacement, when indicated, offers an alternative approach to the treatment of tumors which, because of attachment to major vascular structures, might be considered for radical amputation.