Early Lymph Node Metastasis May Predict Poor Prognosis in Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Background: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) is a relatively rare event in soft tissue sarcoma. An association between the timing of LNM detection and patient prognosis is presently unknown.

Patients And Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathological features of 33 patients with LNM between 2001 and 2015. Analysis of the timing of LNM diagnosis was grouped according to patients presenting LNM in either <8 months (the median time from primary tumor diagnosis to LNM) or ≥8 months after primary tumor diagnosis.

Results: A relationship between the primary tumor size and the timing of the LNM was not significantly found ( = 0.0088, =0.96). Sixteen patients had an LNM detection duration of <8 months, and 17 patients had a duration of ≥8 months. The 5-year survival for patients with an LNM detection duration of <8 months and ≥8 months was 19% and 71%, respectively (=0.0016). There were 19 patients with pulmonary metastases. Among them, there were 13 patients with a duration of primary tumor diagnosis to LNM of <8 months and 6 with a duration of ≥8 months (=0.01).

Conclusion: Early LNM (<8 months) may predict poor prognosis in soft tissue sarcoma.