Operative management of primary retroperitoneal sarcomas: a reappraisal of an institutional experience.

Objective: To review our recent experience with primary retroperitoneal sarcomas, determine prognostic factors for disease recurrence and patient survival, and compare them to our previous results.

Background: Medical therapies have shown little efficacy in the management of retroperitoneal sarcomas, making total surgical extirpation the best chance for patient cure.

Methods: The case histories of all patients operated upon for retroperitoneal sarcomas between January 1983 and December 1995 were retrospectively reviewed.