Radiation and conservative surgery in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Surgery and irradiation were combined in the treatment of 182 patients with soft tissue sarcoma to preserve maximal tissue and function. One hundred sixty-one of 182 patients (88 percent) exhibited local control with a follow-up of from 1 to 12 years. Distant metastases increased with the grade of the tumor from 6 percent for stage I soft tissue sarcomas at 5 years follow-up to 35 percent for stage III tumors. Survival at 5 years was 65 percent. These excellent functional results were obtained with a complication rate of 14 percent. The major complications took place in the lower extremities of patients who would have required a radical compartment resection or radical amputation of the lower extremity had they been treated with surgery alone.