Impact of postoperative radiation on survival for high-grade soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities after limb sparing radical resection.

Objectives: To use the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database to analyze the impact of postoperative radiation after limb sparing surgery for high-grade extremity soft tissue sarcomas (STS).

Methods: We identified patients, aged 20 to 79, who were diagnosed between 1988 and 2006 with high-grade STS of the extremities and underwent radical limb sparing surgery with or without postoperative external beam radiation. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the effect of postoperative external beam radiation therapy on overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS).