Surgical treatment of recurrent retroperitoneal sarcoma in its different patterns: a 15-years’ two-centers experience

Introduction: Few data are available about the role of surgery in the treatment of retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS) recurrences. We herein report the short- and mid-term outcomes of patients who underwent surgical treatment of RPS recurrences at two Italian centers. Materials and Methods From January 2005 to January 2020, 33 patients underwent surgical treatment of isolated locally recurrent RPS (LR group), locally recurrent RPS associated with the presence of distant recurrence (LR + DM group), and distant-only recurrent RPS (DM group). Data regarding pre-, intra-, post-operative course, and follow-up, were retrospectively analyzed and compared. Results LR-group was composed of 15 patients, LR + DM group of 9 patients, and DM group of 9 patients. During the follow-up, 78.5% of the LR group, 77.8% of the DM group and 100% of the LR + DM group (p = 0.244) experienced a second recurrence. No differences in the mean disease-free survival (p = 0.127), overall survival (OS) (p = 0.165) was reported between the three groups. Repeated surgery was an independent factor affecting survival in multivariate analysis (p = 0.01). Conclusions A surgical treatment of RPS recurrences should always be taken into consideration, also in metastatic patients and/or in those who have already undergone surgery, because this approach may offer longer survival.