OUTCOME OF PATIENTS WITH UNDIFFERENTIATED EMBRYONAL SARCOMA OF THE LIVER
TREATED ACCORDING TO EUROPEAN SOFT TISSUE SARCOMA PROTOCOLS.
Abstract
Background To assess the outcomes of pediatric patients with
Undifferentiated Embryonal Sarcoma of the Liver (UESL) and treatment
including at least surgery and systemic chemotherapy. Methods This study
included patients aged up to 21 years with a pathological diagnosis of
UESL prospectively enrolled from 1995 to 2016 in three european trials
focusing on the effects of surgical margins, preoperative chemotherapy,
use of radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy. Results Out of 65 patients
with a median age at diagnosis of 8.7 years (0.6-20.8), 15 had T2
tumors, and 1 had lymph node spread, 14 were Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma
Study (IRS) I, 9 IRSII, 38 IRSIII, and 4 IRSIV. Twenty-eight upfront
surgeries resulted in 5 operative spillages and 11 infiltrated surgical
margins, whereas 37 delayed surgeries resulted in no spillages (P=
0.0119) and 3 infiltrated margins (P=0.0238). All patients received
chemotherapy, including anthracyclines in 47. Radiotherapy was
administered in 15 patients. With a median follow-up of 78.6 months, 5
year overall and event free survivals (EFS) were 90.1% (95%CI
79.2-95.5) and 89.1% (95%CI 78.4-94.6), respectively. Two out 4 local
relapses had previous infiltrated margins and 2 out of 3 patients with
metastatic relapses received reduced doses of alkylating agents.
Infiltrated margins (P=0.1607), T2 stage (P=0.3870), use of RT (P=
0.8731), and anthracycline-based chemotherapy (P= 0.1181) were not
correlated with EFS. Conclusions Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for pediatric
patients with UESL increases the probability of complete surgical
resection. The role of anthracyclines and radiotherapy for localized
disease remains unclear. The use of alkylating agents is recommended.