Abstract
Introduction: Modern cancer treatment has substantially increased the survival of patients with various malignancies. One of the late sequelae of a successful treatment is the development of a second malignant tumor. However, in many cases of second primary cancers, exposure to chemotherapy or radiation therapy is not evident, and it should be postulated that the putative mechanism for the development of the second cancer is different.
Material and Methods: Retrospective search of data files of 610 patients with soft-tissue or bone sarcomas that were treated by the authors from January 1995 through December 1999 were performed.
Results: Out of 375 patients with soft-tissue sarcoma (STS), 28 (7.5%) developed other malignant neoplasm either before or after its diagnosis. The second tumor types included mainly STS and renal cell carcinoma. The time interval between the diagnosis of STS and the second malignancy was o to 21 years. Three patients developed a third primary tumor within 0–3 years after the diagnosis of the second tumor. The median overall survival was > 78 months.
Conclusions: The phenomenon of two or three primary neoplasms in patients in whom one of the tumors was STS occurs in a rate of 7.5% – a significantly higher rate than the occurrence of STS among the general cancer population (1%). Most cases are detected incidentally. The clinical implications are the need to search for an occult second primary in patients with STS as an integral part of their follow-up. It is especially true in patients with primary MFH who show increased risk for developing a renal cell carcinoma.
The abstracts were prepared by Orah Naor. Correspondence should be addressed to him at the Israel Orthopaedic Association, PO Box 7845, Haifa 31074, Israel.
