Radiation-induced Fibrosarcoma

Abstract

Six cases of fibrosarcoma arising in previously irradiated tissues are reported, out of a total of 220 cases of fibrosarcoma treated at Mount Vernon Hospital during the last 23 years. This rare occurrence may follow at any interval from 3 to 38 years after irradiation, usually after high dosage. Four of our six cases are known to have died of the disease. The literature regarding radiation-induced fibrosarcoma is reviewed and it is suggested that adequate excision or amputation may be curative, if undertaken early enough. Images Fig. 5 Figs. 6-8 Figs. 9-11 Figs. 1-4

p53 status in radiation-induced soft-tissue sarcomas

“…It is striking that survival is connected with latency period, confirming earlier findings [19]. The patients who died during the observation period had an average latency period of 11 (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13) years. In contrast to this, patients who are still alive have an average latency period of 18 (12-21) years.…”

“…At most, 5% of all second primary cancers can be convincingly linked to the radiation treatment and about 0.1% of radiotherapy patients developed sarcomas (reviewed in [7]). Occurrence of radiation-induced sarcomas is reported relatively often in the literature [10,27] (reviewed in [16]). Criteria for sarcomas induced by radiation therapy are that 1. the site of origin must be within 'Institute of Pathology, 2Department of Radiotherapy, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany, 3Surgical Clinic, University of Leipzig, Germany.…”

Radiation-induced sarcoma in spine

“…On the other hand, induced fibrosarcoma is more common in soft tissues. Nevertheless, reports of radiation-induced fibrosarcoma in bony structures such as the femur have been previously described [11]. …”

Radiation-induced tumours of the head and neck

“…Clinical data on this issue are scarce in the head and neck literature. So far, 36 cases of radiation-induced sarcomas (Donohue et al, 1967: Gane et al, 1970: Coia et al, 1980Steeves andBataini, 1981: Eisenbud et al, 1982;Rennie et al, 1983;Spiegel and Bogdasarian, 1985;Narula etal, 1986;Gntmetal, 1989;Maiselef al. 1989;Glaubiger et al, 1991;Liddington et al, 1992) and squamous cell carcinomas (Schindel and Castoriano, 1972;Kumar and Newland, 1980;Strauss and Hershey, 1983;Weshler et al, 1983;Amendola et al, 1985;Maisel and Case, 1992) have been described.…”