Is there a role for chemotherapy and radiation in the treatment of patients with low-grade myofibroblastic sarcoma?

Purpose: Low-grade myofibroblastic sarcoma (LGMS) is a rare entity with a predilection for the head and neck. There are still no optimal treatment strategies for patients with LGMS. We retrospectively investigated the efficacies of chemotherapy and radiation treatment for patients with LGMS.

Methods/patients: We obtained data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) database for 96 patients diagnosed with LGMS between 2001 and 2015. We used Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests to estimate overall survival (OS) and Cox proportional hazard regression to identify prognostic factors.

Results: The median age of the patients was 55.0 years. Twenty-two of the patients had LGMS in the head and neck region. Of the 96 patients, 86 (89.6%) received surgical treatment, 28 (29.2%) received radiation treatment, and 20 (10.4%) received chemotherapy. The mean OS was 125.2 [95% confidence interval (CI) 106.3-144.2] months. The 1, 3, 5, and 10-year OS rates were 88%, 77%, 70%, and 59%, respectively. Age greater than 60 years, positive nodal status, and no surgical treatment were independent prognostic factors for patients with LGMS, whereas chemotherapy and radiation treatment were not.

Conclusions: Surgical resection is the most effective therapy for LGMS. Chemotherapy and radiation had limited effects on survival improvement for patients with LGMS. Therefore, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy should not be routinely performed in LGMS, especially for those with negative margins after surgery.