Why the study?
Considerable advancements have occurred in the understanding and treatment of retroperitoneal sarcoma over the last decade, but radiation therapy remains controversial and there is no standard for systemic therapy.
This review highlights that while upfront surgical resection is the standard of care for retroperitoneal sarcoma, adjunctive therapies like radiation and systemic treatments remain controversial and lack standardization.
Surgery remains primary for retroperitoneal sarcoma; leaves open standardization of radiation and systemic therapies for prospective trials.
Soft-tissue sarcomas are biologically heterogenous tumors arising from connective tissues with over 100 subtypes. Although sarcomas account for <1% of all adult malignancies, retroperitoneal sarcomas are a distinct subgroup accounting for <10% of all sarcomatous tumors. There have been considerable advancements in the understanding and treatment of retroperitoneal sarcoma in the last decade, with standard treatment consisting of upfront primary surgical resection. The evidence surrounding the addition of radiation therapy remains controversial. There remains no standard with regards to systemic therapy, including immunotherapy. Adjunctive therapy remains largely dictated by expert consensus and preferences at individual centers or participation in clinical trials. In this 2021 review, we detail the anatomical boundaries of the retroperitoneum, clinical characteristics, contemporary standard of care and well as recent advancements in retroperitoneal sarcoma care. Ongoing international collaborations are encouraged to advance our understanding of this complex disease.
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Schmitz et al. (2022) studied this question.
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