Multimodality treatment of head-and-neck soft-tissue sarcomas and short-term outcomes: Analysis from sarcoma medical oncology clinic

Abstract

Background: Head-and-neck soft-tissue sarcomas (HNSTS) are extremely rare and lack definite guidelines. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed consecutive adult patients with HNSTS who presented to our sarcoma medical oncology clinic from January 2016 to October 2017. Results: There were a total of 30 patients. Unresectable localized disease was seen in 13 (43%) patients, metastatic disease 10 (34%) patients, while resectable disease in 7 (23%) patients only. Among unresectable localized disease, 3 (25%) patients could be converted to resectable disease after neoadjuvant therapy. Median follow period was 11 months. Progression-free survival was 19 months in patients with resectable disease and 6 months in patients with the unresectable/metastatic disease. Median OS was not reached. Conclusion: Unresectable HNSTS has a poor outcome. Neoadjuvant therapy can be tried in selected cases for achieving respectability or for vital organ preservation until robust data are available. A multidisciplinary approach for local control is crucial in managing unresectable HNSTS.

Keywords

• Head-and-neck sarcoma
• multimodality treatment
• neoadjuvant therapy
• soft-tissue sarcoma
• unresectable