Sarcoma of the Breast: Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of 991 Patients from the National Cancer Database

Background Sarcoma of the breast is a rare malignancy with heterogeneous histology. Angiosarcoma, including secondary angiosarcoma from previous radiation, is the most common type of sarcoma of the breast. Other types of sarcomas of the breast have limited clinical and survival information.Methods We obtained clinicopathological data and survival outcomes from the patients with sarcoma of the breast, excluding angiosarcoma, that were registered in the National Cancer Database (NCDB) from 2004 to 2016. The treatment patterns and prognostic factors were analyzed.Results A total of 991 patients had sarcoma of the breast other than angiosarcoma. The most common histology was spindle cell sarcoma (13.4%), followed by leiomyosarcoma (11.7%) and giant cell sarcoma (10.1%). Surgical resection was performed in 894 out of 991 patients (90.2%), including R0 resection achieved in 781 (87.4%). The patients who received surgery showed better survival than the patients without surgery regardless of radiation therapy. When radiation was added to the surgical management, the OS (overall survival) benefit was marginally significant (hazard ratio 1.30 (CI 1.01–1.67), p =0.044). Adding chemotherapy did not improve OS.Conclusions Surgical resection seems to be the most important treatment modality in sarcoma of the breast from the analysis of a large database. Radiation therapy added a minor survival benefit to the patients who received surgical resection. Systemic chemotherapy did not play a clear role in sarcoma of the breast.