Staged Soft Tissue Reconstruction Following Sarcoma Excision with Anticipated Large Cutaneous Defects: An Oncologically Safe Alternative.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that select patients undergoing planned soft tissue sarcoma (STS) excision with anticipated skin and soft tissue deficits could be treated with a two stage surgical procedure which would allow some flexibility in coverage options while not significantly increasing local recurrence rate or wound complication rate. METHODS: A retrospective review was undertaken in a series of consecutive patients with a minimum 2-year follow-up treated by a single orthopedic oncologist and a single reconstructive plastic surgeon who were managed with a staged approach STS excision and reconstruction. RESULTS: There were 73 patients identified over a ten-year period that underwent staged STS excision and soft tissue reconstruction. There were 12 (16%) initial positive margins resected to negative final margins, and a variety of coverage procedures performed. Wound complication rate was 21%. Local recurrence rate was 11%. CONCLUSION: Staged STS excision and reconstruction is an acceptable tool in the armamentarium of the orthopedic oncologist for managing major soft tissue deficits without an increase in local recurrence rates.

The multidisciplinary management of bone and soft tissue sarcoma: an essential organizational framework.

The rarity of bone and soft tissue sarcoma, the difficulty in interpretation of imaging and histology, the plethora of treatment modalities, and the complexity and intensity of the treatment contribute to the need for systematic multidisciplinary team management of patients with these diseases. An integrated multidisciplinary clinic and team with a structured sarcoma tumor board facilitate team coordination and communication. This paper reviews the rationale for multidisciplinary management of sarcoma and details the operational structure of the Multidisciplinary Sarcoma Clinic and Sarcoma Tumor Board. The structured Multidisciplinary Sarcoma Tumor Board provides opportunity for improvement in logistics, teaching, quality, and enrollment in clinical trials.