Open AccessAdjuvant chemotherapy in soft tissue sarcomas…Conflicts, consensus, and controversies
Author(s) -
Jyoti Bajpai,
Deepa Susan
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
south asian journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2278-4306
pISSN - 2278-330X
DOI - 10.4103/2278-330x.179687
Subject(s) - medicine , adjuvant , chemotherapy , sarcoma , adjuvant chemotherapy , soft tissue sarcoma , oncology , soft tissue , pathology , cancer , breast cancer
Soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) are an uncommon and diverse group of more than 50 mesenchymal malignancies. Each of these histologic subtypes represents a unique disease with distinct biologic behavior and varying sensitivity to chemotherapy. The judicious use of adjuvant/neoadjuvant chemotherapy along with surgery and radiation in the treatment of localized STS has a role in improving patient outcomes by decreasing local and distant recurrences. There is evidence that the use of adjuvant chemotherapy to a mixed cohort of chemo sensitive and insensitive sarcoma subtypes results in limited benefit. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to identify the subpopulation with high metastatic potential and to identify effective histology-specific treatment options to these patients. Present perspective, will focus on the rationale for adjuvant chemotherapy in sarcoma, with emphasis on the histology driven chemotherapy. It will outline key therapeutic opportunities and hurdles in adjuvant medical treatment of sarcoma, focusing on specific subtypes that are on the verge of new breakthroughs, as well as those in which promise has not lived up to expectations.