Preoperative Differential Diagnosis of Benign and Malignant Retroperitoneal Tumors Clinicoradiologic Analysis

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcomas are frequently found in advanced state due to the abscent or nonspecific symptoms, and the only hope for cure is a radical resection. The differentiation between benign and malignant tumor is a prerequisite for preoperative preparation and deciding the extent of resection. for the purpose of determining the malignancy of retroperitoneal tumor, we evaluate the clinic oradiologic features of the patients. METHODS: Retrospective study was done on 37 eases who were oper ated Korea University Hospital from Jan. 1990 to Dec. 1998. Their clinicoradiologic characters were analyzed and compared between benign and malignant tumor pationts. RESULTS: Among the 37 cases, 27 cases (73%) were benign tumors and the remaining 10 cases (27%) were malignant tumors. There was no significant difference in age distribution between malignant and benigntumor group (p>0.05) Among 20 male patients, 10 eases had malignant tumor (50%) but all 17 female patients had benign tumor (p=0.001) Preoperative symptoms were present in 29 cases (78.4%). and mean duration of symp toms in malignant cases was 20 months and in benign cases was 18 months but had no significance in differentiating between malignant and benign tumors (p>0.05) All eases were porformed abdominal CT scanning and it had 100% of sensitivity and 74% of specificity. Among the radiologic characteristics, size of tumor, irregular margin, and abscence of calcification were correlated with malignancy (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Preoperative clinical symptoms and duration are not helpful in differentiating the malig naney but CT scanning has a good results for such purpose. So when the retroperitoneal tumor shows large size, irregular margin and no visible calcification especially in male patients, the patient, we should prepare and treat the patients according to malignant tumor.