Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan;23(1):68-77.
doi: 10.1007/s11864-022-00943-7. Epub 2022 Feb 15.

Preoperative Radiation for Soft Tissue Sarcomas: How Much Is Needed?

Affiliations
Review

Preoperative Radiation for Soft Tissue Sarcomas: How Much Is Needed?

Safia K Ahmed et al. Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2022 Jan.

Abstract

Preoperative radiation therapy is an important component of curative treatment for extremity and superficial trunk soft tissue sarcomas. It has traditionally been delivered to a dose of 50 Gy in 2 Gy fractions over 5 weeks. With significant advances in the multidisciplinary approach to soft tissue sarcomas, preoperative radiation therapy may be omitted for certain cases, delivered over a shortened period of time (1-3 weeks), deintensified for myxoid liposarcomas, or combined with systemic therapy to improve the therapeutic ratio. This article reviews the innovative preoperative radiation therapy strategies currently used to treat extremity and superficial trunk soft tissue sarcomas.

Keywords: Combination therapy; Dose deintensification; Hypofractionation; Omission of radiation therapy; Preoperative radiation therapy; Soft tissue sarcoma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

References and Recommended Reading

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance
    1. • O'Sullivan B, Davis AM, Turcotte R, et al. Preoperative versus postoperative radiotherapy in soft-tissue sarcoma of the limbs: a randomised trial. Lancet. 2002;359:2235–41 This trial was quintessential in establishing the role and dose for preoperative radiation therapy in extremity and superficial trunk soft tissue sarcoma. - PubMed
    1. Beane JD, Yang JC, White D, et al. Efficacy of adjuvant radiation therapy in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity: 20-year follow-up of a randomized prospective trial. Ann Surg Oncol. 2014;21:2484–9. - PubMed - PMC
    1. Davis AM, O'Sullivan B, Turcotte R, et al. Late radiation morbidity following randomization to preoperative versus postoperative radiotherapy in extremity soft tissue sarcoma. Radiother Oncol. 2005;75:48–53. - PubMed
    1. Al Yami A, Griffin AM, Ferguson PC, et al. Positive surgical margins in soft tissue sarcoma treated with preoperative radiation: is a postoperative boost necessary? Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2010;77:1191–7. - PubMed
    1. Pan E, Goldberg SI, Chen YL, et al. Role of post-operative radiation boost for soft tissue sarcomas with positive margins following pre-operative radiation and surgery. J Surg Oncol. 2014;110:817–22. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources