PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - DHRUVIL SHAH AU - DARIUSZ BORYS AU - STEVE R. MARTINEZ AU - CHIN-SHANG LI AU - ROBERT M. TAMURIAN AU - RICHARD J. BOLD AU - ARTA MONJAZEB AU - ROBERT J. CANTER TI - Complete Pathologic Response to Neoadjuvant Radiotherapy is Predictive of Oncological Outcome in Patients with Soft Tissue Sarcoma DP - 2012 Sep 01 TA - Anticancer Research PG - 3911--3915 VI - 32 IP - 9 4099 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/32/9/3911.short 4100 - http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/32/9/3911.full SO - Anticancer Res2012 Sep 01; 32 AB - We sought to determine if complete pathological necrosis (pathCR) predicts favorable oncological outcome in soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients receiving pre-operative radiation monotherapy (RT). Patients and Methods: We evaluated 30 patients with primary STS treated with neoadjuvant RT followed by definitive resection, from 2000 to 2010 at our institution. We defined ≥95% tumor necrosis as pathCR. Results: There were 22 STS of the extremities (73%), 7 of the retroperitoneum (23%), and 1 (4%) of the trunk. The median pathological percentage of tumor necrosis was 35% (range 5-100%) with three tumors (10%) demonstrating pathCR. With a median follow-up of 40 months, the 5-year local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS), and overall survival (OS) for the entire cohort were 100%, 61%±11%, and 69%±11%, respectively. Among patients with pathCR, 3-year DRFS was 100% compared to 63±11% in patients without pathCR (p=0.28). Conclusion: Following neoadjuvant RT for STS, pathCR is associated with a clinically but not statistically significant 37% improvement in 3-year DRFS.