Adult head and neck soft-tissue sarcomas.

Adult soft tissue sarcomas of the head and neck are so rare that an accurate diagnosis and appropriate therapy are frequently delayed. A retrospective study of such patients seen at the University of Illinois over the last 15 years has helped to better characterize this disease entity. Patients with sarcoma of the neck, the most common anatomic location (37 per cent), had the highest 5-year disease-free survival rate (67 per cent). Fibrosarcoma was the most common histologic type (25 per cent). Aggressive fibromatosis patients experienced the longest mean survival time (93 months). The disease-free 2-year, 5-year, and 10-year survival rates were found to be 68, 54, and 28 per cent, respectively. Wide excision was the treatment of choice, with adjuvant radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or both, used in selected patients. The sarcomas of all long-term survivors were either well-differentiated or 5.0 cm or less in diameter. It is evident that aggressive therapy of adult head and neck sarcomas can provide good long-term results.