Soft-Tissue Sarcoma of the Head and Neck After Puberty: Treatment by Surgery and Postoperative Radiation Therapy

Abstract

• The most frequent soft-tissue sarcomas in the head and neck area are embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas and neurofibrosarcomas. Histological grading and the staging of the lesions bear on the prognosis of the disease. The use of sequential surgical resection plus postoperative radiation therapy has considerably improved the local control of these sarcomas. The use of multiple-drug systemic chemotherapy as an adjuvant to radiation therapy is fraught with considerable complications in this series of patients. Studies are ongoing for a better understanding of the immunologic changes that occur in patients with sarcoma. (Arch Otolaryngol 103:365-368, 1977)