Regional chemotherapy with the use of cisplatin and doxorubicin as primary treatment for advanced sarcomas in shoulder, pelvis, and thigh

Eight patients who had large sarcomas in the hip, thigh, or shoulder girdle have been described. Three had osteogenic sarcomas, and one each had Ewing's sarcoma, biphasic synovial sarcoma, pleomorphic liposarcoma, undifferentiated spindling sarcoma, and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. All eight tumors showed evidence of regression after intraarterial infusion of cisplatin and Adriamycin (doxorubicin) given over 48 hours at 3-week intervals, for a total of between three and seven courses. Tru-cut needle biopsy specimens of five of the lesions were normal after chemotherapy. However, after resection of the regressed fibrotic tumor in seven of the patients, four contained foci of probably viable malignant cells. These cell foci were intraosseous in three cases and in the wall of a cyst in one case. In the remaining case, tumor in the distribution of the infused artery regressed, but tumor in a region supplied by an artery that was not infused continued to enlarge. In one patient with osteogenic sarcoma in the pelvis, despite a good response to intraarterial chemotherapy that was followed by surgical resection and radiotherapy, tumor recurred in an adjacent area in tissues supplied by an artery not infused. A hindquarter amputation subsequently was required. With the exception of the two cases in which adequate tumor arterial infusion was not achieved, local primary tumor control was accomplished by intraarterial infusion chemotherapy followed by local resection or radiotherapy and local resection in all patients. Four patients are well without evidence of residual or metastatic sarcoma 3.5 years after presentation in the case of an osteogenic sarcoma of shoulder, 2.5 years after presentation in the case of a large pleomorphic liposarcoma of thigh and groin, 20 months after presentation in the case of lower-thigh malignant fibrous histiocytoma, and 1 year after presentation in a child with an osteogenic sarcoma of lower femur.