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Part of the book series: Cancer Treatment and Research ((CTAR,volume 56))

Abstract

Successful treatment of the patient with sarcoma of soft tissue (STS) means eradication of local, regional, and distant disease, with minimal treatment related morbidity. At present, the potential for such success is limited to those patients who do not have evident metastatic tumors at the time of the diagnosis of the primary tumor. The major exception to this statement is rhabdomyosarcoma in pédiatric patients. The American College of Surgeons survey [1] of 5,812 patients treated in U.S. hospitals with A.C.S. approved cancer programs reported that ≈75% of the patients had no demonstrable metastatic tumor at diagnosis of the primary lesion.1 Hence, of the ≈5,600 newly diagnosed patients with STS per year in the US., there can be expected to be ≈4,200 patients with clinically staged I—IVA disease, nearly all of whom will be sufficiently fit to be candidates for definitive treatment. The value of radiation in the management of these patients is the subject of this chapter.

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Suit, H.D., Willett, C.G. (1991). Radiation Therapy of Sarcomas of the Soft Tissues. In: Pinedo, H.M., Verweij, J., Suit, H.D. (eds) Soft Tissue Sarcomas: New Developments in the Multidisciplinary Approach to Treatment. Cancer Treatment and Research, vol 56. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3896-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3896-7_6

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