Radiation, Chemotherapy with Surgery for Localized Chest Wall Sarcoma Beneficial

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

According to a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington, have found that the addition of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or both to surgery improves outcomes for patients with localized chest wall sarcoma.

For the single-institution study, researchers sought to investigate the 20-year experience of the impact on outcome of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in the treatment of localized chest wall sarcomas at a single institution.

They retrospectively analyzed data from 65 patients with stage 2B and 3 chest wall sarcomas. Results showed that compared with surgery alone, disease-free survival improved by 92% with the addition of radiotherapy and by 82% with the addition of chemotherapy at both 5 and 10 years.

Furthermore, the addition of both radiotherapy and chemotherapy to surgery improved disease-free survival by 89% and 90% at 5 and 10 years, respectively. 

Researchers also found that the addition of either radiotherapy or chemotherapy, or both, improved overall survival, but the greatest improvement was observed in patients that received chemotherapy and radiotherapy with surgery.

The findings suggest that the addition of radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or both to surgery should be strongly considered in patients with localized chest wall sarcoma, but larger studies are necessary to determine which populations would benefit most from both radiotherapy and chemotherapy.