Role of radiation in the management of adult patients with sarcoma of soft tissue.

Radiation in moderate dose levels, viz. 60-65 Gy at 2 Gy/fraction, administered in combination with conservative surgery, yields local control frequencies at least comparable to those achieved by radical resectional surgery alone. The clinical interest in this management strategy is the reduction in the scope of the resection and a consequent gain in cosmetic and functional status. This combined approach is favored for sarcomas so situated that resection with wide margin, > or = 2 cm at the most narrow, cannot be realized unless there is a clinically important loss in function. Where radical surgery is planned, there must be great care in assessment of the probability of achieving good margins. The patient is ill served if there is radical surgery and then, because of close margins, postoperative radiation is required. There appears to be clinical gain for the patient with a large sarcoma by administering the radiation preoperatively. Advantages include smaller treatment volume and higher local control rates. The management of the surgical wound in the irradiated patient is discussed. Also, brief consideration is given to current use of brachytherapy, high linear energy transfer (LET) radiation, and combination of radiation and chemotherapy.