Distribution and survival of primary sarcoma in Korea: A single center analysis of 2017 cases

Abstract

Purpose Distribution and survival of sarcoma in Korea are not well described, after the changing of sarcoma classification on 2013. The researchers investigated the distribution and survival in single center 2017 cases of sarcoma. Methods Patients with primary sarcoma, who underwent surgery, were investigated. All cases were collected during a 20 year period (1995–2015) from Samsung Medical Center in Korea. Histopathologic types were classified by World Health Organization (WHO) classification (2013). And overall survival rates were analyzed. Results Between 1995 and 2015, 2017 patients were collected. The most frequent type of sarcoma was gastrointestinal tumor (15%), followed by liposarcoma (12%), leiomyosarcoma (9%), dermatofibrosarcoma (6%), giant cell sarcoma (6%). The most common primary site of sarcoma was the intra-abdominal area (45%, including visceral area). Extremities accounted for 26% of all cases. Sixteen percent of sarcoma were located in retroperitoneal area. The overall survival rate was 70.4% (median follow-up time, 36.8 months; range, 0.1–261.3 months). The best prognosis was dermatofibrosarcoma (100%, 5-year survival rate). The worst prognosis was angiosarcoma (39.3%). Survival analysis by the primary site demonstrated favor prognosis in extremities than head & neck, chest lesion. Conclusion The researchers reported Korean sarcoma characteristics with using the new WHO classification.

Keywords

• sarcoma
• epidemiology
• korea