Despite small size, soft-tissue sarcomas of the hand have high metastatic potential

Soft-tissue sarcomas (STSs) are an aggressive tumor that requires long-term clinical follow-up, according to a new study.

In the retrospective study, data from 69 patients with STSs of the hand were included. Epithelioid sarcoma was the most common subtype accounting for 23% of cases, followed by synovial sarcoma with 15%. Twenty-five percent of tumors were grade 1, 23% were grade II, and 44% were grade 3.

In patients with epithelioid sarcomas, the 5-year disease-free survival rate was 75%, with a disease survival of 100%, and a metastatic rate of 15%. The 5-year disease-free survival for patients with synovial sarcoma was 68% and the 5-year disease survival was 73%. Approximately 40% of patients with synovial sarcoma developed metastases. The

The authors concluded that 10 years of clinical follow-up was needed in patients with these tumors.

Reference
Lans J, Yue KC, Castelein RM, et al. Soft-tissue Sarcoma of the Hand: Patient Characteristics, Treatment, and Oncologic Outcomes [published online ahead of print, 2020 Sep 14]. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2020;10.5435/JAAOS-D-20-00434. doi:10.5435/JAAOS-D-20-00434