Prognostic factors for patients with localized primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma: a multicenter study of 216 patients with multivariate analysis.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the independent prognostic variables in a well documented subset of 216 patients with localized primary malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH).

Methods: Between the years 1980 and 1989, 216 patients with localized, primary (International Union Against Cancer [UICC]/American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] Stage I-IVA) MFH were evaluated and treated in 10 participating centers of the sarcoma group of the French Federation of Cancer Centers (FNCLCC). Clinicopathologic factors were collected retrospectively and entered into a cooperative database.