Incidence of soft tissue sarcoma and beyond

Abstract

BACKGROUND:The objectives of this study were to measure the incidence of sarcomas, including viscerally sited tumors that are not reported in cancer statistics, and to draw explanatory clues from a large and reliable sarcoma incidence data set. METHODS: Cases of sarcomas regardless of primary site (except bone and joints) were collected during 2 years in 3 European regions totaling approximately 26,000,000 person-years. The sources used were pathology reports and hospital discharges forms. Diagnoses were reviewed by expert sarcoma pathologists and were classified according to 2002 World Health Organization criteria. Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) were considered those located in arms, legs, trunk, head, neck, and retroperitoneum; visceral sarcomas (VS) were considered those that arose in internal organs. Rates were age standardized using the European (ASR-E) and the USA standard population. The rate of coexistence of VS and STS was calculated by dividing the 2 corresponding ASRs. RESULTS: There were 1558 sarcomas, 968 STS, and 590 VS. The ASRs-USA per 100,000 person-years was 5.12 Â 10 5 among males and 4.58 Â 10 5 among females for all sarcomas. For males and females, respectively, the ASR-E per 100,000 person-years was 3.58 Â 10 5 and 2.55 Â 10 5 , respectively, for STS; 1.47 Â 10 5 and 1.97 Â 10 5 , respectively, for VS; and 0.55 Â 10 5 and 0.10 Â 10 5 , respectively, for Kaposi sarcoma. The coexistence rate of VS and STS was 0.41 for males and 0.77 for females. For dermatofibrosarcoma (both sexes), uterine sarcoma, liposarcoma (females), and leiomyosarcoma, including or excluding the uterus (females), the age-specific rates depicted a curve with a rapid increasing trend until ages 40 to 50 years and little variation thereafter. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with the incidence of STS, VS incidence made up an additional 41% in males and 77% in females. Because the shape of age-specific curves for some histotypes was similar to that of breast cancer, the authors concluded that sex hormones (plus many chemicals that act as endocrine disruptors) may be involved in carcinogenesis. This evidence could pave the way to investigate alternative treatments and to explore etiology. Cancer 2012;118:5339-48.

Epidemiological study of soft‐tissue sarcomas in Ireland

“…In contrast, few other European studies, studies from the United Kingdom and the United States report a higher incidence of STS in males 15, for example, Toro et al. (U.S.A.) 2 and a regional study based in France and Italy 17. Hence, due to inconsistencies in results from various studies, clear gender predilection of STS cannot be obtained.…”

“…This incidence rate falls at the high end of the range of published international incidence rate (1.8 and 5.0 per 100,000 per year). The ASR in Ireland is similar to the United Kingdom but differs from other countries of central Europe and the United States 2, 4, 15, 17. The inclusion criteria, number of cases, classification and typing standards of STS may differ for each country and over various time periods.…”

Application of high-resolution genomic profiling in the differential diagnosis of liposarcoma

“…Little is known about the molecular mechanism of dedifferentiation and no genetic alteration has been identified as contributing to this process yet. Recently, it has been suggested that the number of dedifferentiation events in LPS could be underestimated and that actually DDLPS might be the most common histological subtype [6]. MLPS, the third subtype of LPS, is distinguished by the presence of a specific translocation t(12;16) [7] or t(12;22) [8] that is the key genetic aberration, extremely helpful in differential diagnosis between MLPS and myxofibrosarcomas [5].…”

Extended Adjuvant Therapy with Imatinib in Patients with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors

“…Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are the most common mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract, with a mean annual incidence of 10–15 cases per million people, affecting mainly older individuals at a median age of 55–65 years [1–4]. Radical surgery is the treatment of choice in primary resectable GISTs, but almost all GISTs are associated with a risk of recurrence, and approximately 40–50 % of patients with potentially curative resections develop recurrent or metastatic disease [5, 6].…”