Abstract
BACKGROUND: Comprehensive studies on the tumor burden of soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) by anatomical site are lacking in Asian populations. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anatomical distribution of STS via relative tumor density (RTD) in a Korean cohort. METHODS: The RTDs of patients with STS at a single-institution from 2007-2022 were retrospectively analyzed. To describe the STS locations, the body was divided into 4 anatomical sites, and the RTD of each was calculated to the compare topographic tumor burden. RESULTS: Fifty-nine cases in 58 individuals, 35 male (60.3%) and 23 female (39.7%), with a mean age of 56.5±20.4 were analyzed. Overall, the most frequent STS site was the lower extremity (LE, n=22, 37.3%), and the highest RTD was in the head and neck (H&N, 2.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.39-3.77). Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), and angiosarcoma (AS) accounted for 76.3% of all the cases. DFSP, KS, and AS showed significantly higher RTD on the trunk (2.55, p=0.025), LE (3.88, p<0.001), and H&N (7.42, p<0.001), respectively, than elsewhere. CONCLUSION: Each STS displays topographic variability and produces different topographic tumor burdens by body site in an Asian population.