Soft-tissue sarcomas in the head and neck: 25 years of experience

Sarcomas are infrequent and heterogeneous tumours. They represent 1–2% of all malignant neoplasms in adults and between 4% and 10% of head and neck cancers. METHODS: The research was retrospective, descriptive, and cross-sectional. RESULTS: A study population of 62 patients with a mean age of 44 years was obtained; the most frequent location was the soft tissues of the neck (25.3%) and the mean tumour size was 7.1 cm; the most frequent diagnosis was undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (25.5%) and the majority were stage III (41.4%). The lowest survival rates were associated with T2a and T2b tumours (p = 0.014), the presence of lymph node metastasis (p = 0.001), advanced stages (p = 0.003), and invasion of bone, blood vessels and/or nerves (p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Late diagnosis is the main factor associated with decreased survival in patients with head and neck sarcomas.