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

Abstract

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 &lt;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 ( Rs = 0.0088, <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.96</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>). Sixteen patients had an LNM detection duration of &lt;8 months, and 17 patients had a duration of ≥8 months. The 5-year survival for patients with an LNM detection duration of &lt;8 months and ≥8 months was 19% and 71%, respectively (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.0016</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>). There were 19 patients with pulmonary metastases. Among them, there were 13 patients with a duration of primary tumor diagnosis to LNM of &lt;8 months and 6 with a duration of ≥8 months (<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><mml:mrow><mml:mi>p</mml:mi><mml:mo>=</mml:mo><mml:mn>0.01</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:math>). Conclusion . Early LNM (&lt;8 months) may predict poor prognosis in soft tissue sarcoma.