A sub-Saharan African experience in the surgical management of soft tissue sarcomas in an oncology unit in: a retrospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) consist of over 70 histologic subtypes and constitute only 1% of adult malignancies. The fulcrum of management is surgical resection with neoadjuvant or adjuvant treatment-chemoradiation. METHODS: The study is a retrospective review of consecutive STS patients who had surgery at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, between October 2007-2017. Data extraction was from the admission and operative registers, theatre records and histology reports. Statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 (Chicago IL USA). Results were summarized as charts and graphs. RESULTS: Five hundred and ninety six cases of STS were seen over the ten-year period. Of these, 383 (64.3%) patients had surgery and the case files of 326 (85.1%) of these patients was available for review. The duration of soft tissue swelling, ranged from 1-96 months. A third of the tumors were superficial while 68% were deep-seated. Oncoplastic reconstruction was done in 42(13%) patients. The resection margin was negative in 88%. A total of 202 patients were followed up regularly for between 24-36 months only. CONCLUSION: Patients who benefitted from definitive surgical treatment for STS were found to be the young and middle age group. These patients had extended duration of symptoms with lesions > 5cm in size. Truncal and visceral STS had the worst prognosis. A Multi-Disciplinary Tumor (MDT) board for STS and a robust follow up would enhance the management of STS in a low resource setting.