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Publications (5)10.24 Total impact

  • Article: Surgical indications for Ewing's sarcoma of the pelvis.
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    ABSTRACT: Despite advances in adjuvant therapy, Ewing's sarcoma of the pelvis remains an anatomic site with a poor prognosis. This study evaluate the role of surgery in the management of patients with pelvic Ewing's sarcoma who also received conventional radiation therapy and chemotherapy. From May 1978 to February 1994, 19 patients with Stage IIB Ewing's sarcoma of the pelvis were treated at the UCLA Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA). There were eight lesions of the ilium, two of the sacrum, and nine involving two adjoining regions of pelvis. All patients received conventional medical management. The 19 patients were divided into two groups according to treatment modality. A group of 12 patients (Group A) had surgical resection, and their results were compared with those of another group of 7 patients (Group B) who did not have surgery. The 5-year cumulative survival (Kaplan-Meier method) was 39% for all patients, 51% for Group A, and 18% for Group B. The 3-year cumulative survival was 59% for all patients, 72% for Group A, and 36% for Group B. Although the survival rate of Group A seemed better than that of Group B, the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.093, log rank method). This study also suggested that, regardless of treatment modality, the outcome of patients with lesions involving two adjoining pelvic bones was poorer than that of those with a single lesion. In Group A, the 3-year cumulative survival rate for patients with single bone lesions (n = 8) was 86% and for patients with lesions involving two adjoining pelvic bones (n = 4) was 50% (P = 0.045, log rank method). Furthermore, the statistical analysis of the combined data of the single pelvic bone lesions in UCLA and that of Mayo Clinic series (n = 16 for surgery group and n = 15 for nonsurgery group) confirmed the better results for the surgical patients, which was consistent with the results from the Mayo Clinic with an even greater significance (P < 0.002). This study demonstrates that surgery plus chemotherapy and radiation therapy is helpful for treating patients with pelvic Ewing's sarcoma so long as the tumor is limited to a single pelvic bone.
    Cancer 10/1995; 76(8):1388-97. · 4.77 Impact Factor
  • Article: High grade soft tissue sarcoma of the flexor fossae. Size rather than compartmental status determine prognosis.
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    ABSTRACT: High grade soft tissue sarcoma arising in the popliteal space, axilla, and antecubital fossae (flexor fossae tumors) have by convention been classified as extracompartmental tumors by the accepted staging and grading criteria of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS). Advances in neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy have made surgical resection more feasible. The hypothesis to be tested is that compartmental status may not be of prognostic significance if the tumor is adjusted for size, histologic grade, and distant metastasis after undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation. From June 1976 to December 1992, 22 patients with high grade soft tissue sarcomas of the flexor fossae (Group A) were treated at UCLA Medical Center. The histologic subtypes were liposarcoma (five), synovial cell sarcoma (eight), malignant fibrous histiocytoma (four), leiomyosarcoma (two), angiosarcoma (two), and rhabdomyosarcoma (one). The popliteal fossa was the location in 11, the axilla in 10, and the antecubital fossa in 1. Wide resection was attempted in all patients after preoperative chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Amputation was performed in 5 patients because of repeated or extensive recurrent tumor. A group of 77 patients (Group B) with high grade soft tissue sarcoma located within an extremity compartment were chosen to test the hypothesis that survival of patients with tumors in the flexor fossae is equal to that of patients with intracompartmental tumors of similar size and grade if both are given adjuvant therapy. This group was chosen so that histologic subtype, size, sex, and location would be similar in the two groups. The authors selected thigh and calf tumors for comparison with popliteal fossa tumors and periscapular, deltoid, and arm tumors for comparison with axilla and antecubital fossae tumors. All of these patients had similar treatment and follow-up protocols. The median follow-up of survivors in Group A was 104 months and for patients in Group B was 79 months. The 5-year cumulative survival rate (Kaplan-Meier method) of patients in Group A was 76%, and 67% for those in Group B. The difference was not significant. Three patients in Group A (14%) and 17 (22%) in Group B had local tumor recurrence. Eight patients in Group A (36%) and 27 (35%) in Group B had lung metastases. Age, sex, histologic subtype, and surgical margins did not affect survival outcomes, lung metastasis, and local recurrence. However, patients with larger tumors (maximum dimension > or = 8 cm or cross-sectional area > or = 40 cm2) had significantly poorer survival, more metastases, and local recurrences. Flexor fossae sarcomas do not have a poorer prognosis than extremity intracompartmental tumors when adjusted for size, distant metastasis, and histologic grade when they are treated with adjuvant radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery.
    Cancer 10/1995; 76(8):1398-405. · 4.77 Impact Factor
  • Article: The role of thoracic surgery in the management of metastatic osteogenic sarcoma.
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    ABSTRACT: Fifty percent of patients with osteogenic sarcoma who develop pulmonary metastases are salvageable with continued effective chemotherapy and thoracotomies, as long as good local control is achieved in the primary tumor. In patients presenting with simultaneous primary tumor and pulmonary metastatic disease, the cure rate is potentially as high as it is in those patients who present with primary tumor alone. However, in the latter patients, curative surgery must be done to obtain permanent local control for the primary tumor, and thoracotomy must be performed to remove residual disease to ensure against recurrent disease.
    Chest Surgery Clinics of North America 03/1994; 4(1):75-83.
  • Article: Thoracotomy in the management of metastatic soft-tissue sarcomas in adults.
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    ABSTRACT: The multidisciplinary management of metastatic soft-tissue sarcomas in adults is capable of salvaging approximately half of the afflicted patients. This management includes preoperative chemotherapy for three months, thoracic surgery, continued chemotherapy, and the use of intrapleural mitoxantrone for once-present malignant pleural effusions or suspected pleural seeding of tumor. Thus, there is a definite role for the inclusion of thoracic surgery in the management of patients with soft-tissue sarcomas in whom pulmonary metastases develop.
    Chest Surgery Clinics of North America 03/1994; 4(1):67-74.
  • Article: [Preoperative chemotherapy in treatment of soft tissue sarcoma].
    Der Chirurg 07/1993; 64(6):443-8. · 0.70 Impact Factor