Abstract
BACKGROUND: Visceral sarcomas are a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma. This study aimed to evaluate the survival and prognostic factors and effective treatments for visceral sarcomas. METHODS: All patients with visceral sarcoma referred to our center between January 2010 and December 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The Kaplan-Meier method and a log-rank test were used for survival analysis. RESULTS: A total of 53 patients with visceral sarcoma were analyzed in this study with the median age at diagnosis of 57 (range, 24-77) years. Among them, 37 (69.8%) and 16 (30.2%) patients had localized and metastatic diseases at the initial presentation, respectively, and 44 patients underwent surgical resection. The median follow-up, event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 63.0 (range, 2-130), 42.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.879-73.121) and 45.0 months (95% CI 9.938-80.062), respectively. The 5-year EFS and OS rates were 44% and 46%, respectively. Univariate analysis of prognostic indicators illustrated that metastasis at presentation, surgery, surgical margin and the types of surgery were significantly associated with OS and EFS. In this study, combined chemotherapy or radiotherapy had no effects on EFS and OS. CONCLUSION: Primary visceral sarcoma is an uncommon and aggressive malignant tumor with a higher rate of local recurrence. In the largest cohort of visceral sarcomas in China to date, we identified metastases at presentation, surgery, surgical margin, and the types of surgery as independent predictors of survival. The combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy did not affect survival.