Outcome of rare primary malignant bone sarcoma treated with multimodal therapy: Results from the EUROpean Bone Over 40 Sarcoma Study (EURO-B.O.S.S.).

Background: Rare primary malignant bone sarcomas (RPMBS) account for 5%-10% of primary high-grade bone tumors and represent a major treatment challenge. The outcome of patients with RPMBS enrolled in the EUROpean Bone Over 40 Sarcoma Study (EURO-B.O.

Exploring the Patient Perspective of Bone Sarcoma Survivors Who Have Undergone Particle Radiotherapy Abroad.

Background/aim: Sarcoma patients' experiences of their health-related quality of life and late effects following particle therapy are sparse. Such knowledge is essential to optimize treatment compliance and follow-up care related to this rapidly developing, but still centralized treatment modality.

Patients And Methods: This qualitative study has an explorative design and applies a phenomenological and hermeneutical approach based on semi-structured interviews with 12 bone sarcoma patients who had undergone particle therapy abroad.

Safety, Antitumor Activity, and T-cell Responses in a Dose-Ranging Phase I Trial of the Oncolytic Peptide LTX-315 in Patients with Solid Tumors.

Purpose: LTX-315 is a first-in-class, 9-mer membranolytic peptide that has shown potent immunomodulatory properties in preclinical models. We conducted a phase I dose-escalating study of intratumoral LTX-315 administration in patients with advanced solid tumors.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-nine patients were enrolled, receiving LTX-315 injections into accessible tumors.

Preoperative accelerated radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in a defined cohort of patients with high risk soft tissue sarcoma: a Scandinavian Sarcoma Group study.

Background: We recently reported outcomes from a Scandinavian Sarcoma Group adjuvant study (SSG XX group A) conducted on localized and operable high risk soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of the extremities and trunk wall. SSG XX, group B, comprised of patients in a defined cohort with locally advanced STS considered at high risk for intralesional surgery. These patients received preoperative accelerated radiotherapy, together with neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy.

Dose Reduction of Preoperative Radiotherapy in Myxoid Liposarcoma: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.

Importance: Currently, preoperative radiotherapy for all soft-tissue sarcomas is identical at a 50-Gy dose level, which can be associated with morbidity, particularly wound complications. The observed clinical radiosensitivity of the myxoid liposarcoma subtype might offer the possibility to reduce morbidity.

Objective: To assess whether a dose reduction of preoperative radiotherapy for myxoid liposarcoma would result in comparable oncological outcome with less morbidity.

Enhanced T-lymphocyte infiltration in a desmoid tumor of the thoracic wall in a young woman treated with intratumoral injections of the oncolytic peptide LTX-315: a case report.

Background: Desmoid tumors are intermediary malignant, fibrous lesions occurring in various soft tissues. Surgical treatment is relentlessly challenging because of the propensity for local aggressive behavior and high risk of recurrence. Consequently, a wide range of oncological drugs and radiation therapy are being used; however, outcomes are unpredictable.

Ewing sarcoma of the mobile spine; predictive factors for survival, neurological function and local control. A Scandinavian sarcoma group study with a mean follow-up of 12 years.

Many patients with Ewing sarcoma (ES) of the mobile spine present with neurologic symptoms leading to emergency decompressive surgery. Only rarely is optimal treatment involving neo-adjuvant chemotherapy followed by en bloc excision possible. The purpose of this study was to study treatment, neurologic and oncologic outcome in patients with ES of the mobile spine.

EURO-B.O.S.S.: A European study on chemotherapy in bone-sarcoma patients aged over 40: Outcome in primary high-grade osteosarcoma.

Introduction: The EUROpean Bone Over 40 Sarcoma Study (EURO-B.O.S.

External Beam Radiation Therapy for Resectable Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of preoperative and postoperative external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) in the treatment of resectable soft tissue sarcomas (STSs) of different tumor locations.

Methods: A systematic literature search was performed to identify studies investigating the effects of EBRT (versus no EBRT) on local recurrence (LR) and overall survival (OS) or comparing different EBRT sequences. Random effects meta-analyses were calculated and presented as cumulative odds ratios (ORs).

The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Central Register: 6,000 patients after 25 years of monitoring of referral and treatment of extremity and trunk wall soft-tissue sarcoma.

Purpose - We wanted to examine the potential of the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Central Register, and evaluate referral and treatment practice for soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities and trunk wall (STS) in the Nordic countries. Background - Based on incidence rates from the literature, 8,150 (7,000-9,300) cases of STS of the extremity and trunk wall should have been diagnosed in Norway, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden from 1987 through 2011. The SSG Register has 6,027 cases registered from this period, with 5,837 having complete registration of key variables.

Denosumab in patients with giant-cell tumor of bone in Norway: results from a nationwide cohort.

Background: Denosumab is a relatively new treatment option for patients with giant-cell tumor of bone (GCTB). The purpose of this study was to report the results for patients treated in Norway.

Materials And Methods: Patients treated with denosumab for GCTB were identified from the clinical databases at the Norwegian sarcoma reference centers.

Improved Prognosis for Patients with Ewing Sarcoma in the Sacrum Compared with the Innominate Bones: The Scandinavian Sarcoma Group Experience.

Background: Treatment of Ewing sarcoma of the pelvic bones remains one of the most difficult tasks in the treatment of bone sarcomas. Whether surgery or radiation therapy is the best local treatment is still a matter of debate. The aim of the present study was to compare sacral and nonsacral sites with regard to the treatment and outcome of pelvic Ewing sarcomas.

Adjuvant radiotherapy in retroperitoneal sarcomas. A Scandinavian Sarcoma Group study of 97 patients.

Background: Currently there is no consensus on the use of adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) in retroperitoneal sarcoma (RPS). We have analysed clinical outcomes in patients with localised RPS treated at two Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) centres: Haukeland University Hospital (HUH), Bergen, Norway and Skåne University Hospital (SUH), Lund, Sweden to clarify the effects of adjuvant RT on local control and overall survival (OS).

Material And Methods: Local databases and registers at HUH and SUH as well as the SSG central register were used to identify RPS patients.

Patterns of local recurrence and dose fractionation of adjuvant radiation therapy in 462 patients with soft tissue sarcoma of extremity and trunk wall.

Purpose: To study the impact of dose fractionation of adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) on local recurrence (LR) and the relation of LR to radiation fields.

Methods And Materials: LR rates were analyzed in 462 adult patients with soft tissue sarcoma who underwent surgical excision and adjuvant RT at five Scandinavian sarcoma centers from 1998 to 2009. Medical records were reviewed for dose fractionation parameters and to determine the location of the LR relative to the radiation portals.

Reliability of Margin Assessment after Surgery for Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcoma: The SSG Experience.

Surgery remains the mainstay of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) treatment and has been the primary treatment for the majority of patients in Scandinavia during the last 30 years although the use of adjuvant radiotherapy has increased. Patient and treatment characteristics have been recorded in the Scandinavian Sarcoma Group (SSG) Register since 1987. When the effect of new radiotherapy guidelines from 1998 was evaluated, the reliability of surgical margin assessments among different Scandinavian institutions was investigated.

Health status at long-term follow-up in patients treated for extremity localized Ewing Sarcoma or osteosarcoma: a Scandinavian sarcoma group study.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate late effects and symptom complaints in long-term survivors (>5 years) of Extremity Bone Sarcoma (EBS survivors). The results were compared with findings in age- and gender-matched individuals from the general population (NORMs).

Patients And Methods: Among 155 EBS survivors approached, 133 (86%) were included, and 110 of them (83%) attended an outpatient examination.

Limb-sparing surgery preserves more function than amputation: a Scandinavian sarcoma group study of 118 patients.

We evaluated the long-term functional outcome in 118 patients treated for osteosarcoma or Ewing's sarcoma in the extremities a minimum of five years after treatment. We also examined if impaired function influenced their quality of life and ability to work. The function was evaluated according to the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) score and the Toronto Extremity Salvage Score (TESS).

Radiotherapy to improve local control regardless of surgical margin and malignancy grade in extremity and trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma: a Scandinavian sarcoma group study.

Purpose: Adjuvant radiotherapy has during the past decades become increasingly used in the treatment of localized soft tissue sarcoma. We evaluated the effect of radiotherapy (RT) on local recurrence rates (LRRs) in Scandinavia between 1986 and 2005.

Methods And Materials: A total of 1,093 adult patients with extremity or trunk wall soft tissue sarcoma treated at four Scandinavian sarcoma centers were stratified according to the treatment period (1986-1991, 1992-1997, and 1998-2005).

Young survivors of malignant bone tumours in the extremities: a comparative study of quality of life, fatigue and mental distress.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to compare the quality of life (QoL), fatigue and mental distress in survivors of malignant extremity bone tumours (EBT survivors) with age and gender-matched survivors of Hodgkin's disease (HD survivors) and testicular cancer (TC survivors) as well as normative samples from the general population.

Patients And Methods: Five years or more after end of treatment, 75 EBT survivors were mailed a questionnaire containing Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Fatigue Questionnaire and questions about demography. Fifty-eight EBT survivors responded.

[Treatment of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumour with imatinib mesylate].

Background: Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) is the most frequent mesenchymal tumour type of the digestive tract. Between 30 and 40% of patients have high-risk, malignant GIST with poor prognosis after surgery. Imatinib mesylate is a recently introduced KIT tyrosine kinase inhibitor with effect on metastatic GIST.

Can dose-response models predict reliable normal tissue complication probabilities in radical radiotherapy of urinary bladder cancer? The impact of alternative radiation tolerance models and parameters.

Purpose: To analyze the consequences of selecting alternative normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models and parameters for evaluation of radiotherapy of urinary bladder cancer.

Methods And Materials: Treatment plans of 24 bladder cancer patients referred to radical 4-field conformal radiotherapy were analyzed. Small intestinal and rectal NTCPs were determined using both the probit and relative seriality models with several sets of published radiation tolerance parameters.