Objective: To review the characteristics of cases of
vulvar sarcomas (VS) referred to the Queensland Centre for Gynaecological
Cancer (QCGC) between mid 1984 and mid 2012. Methods: VS case data from QCGC
were reviewed and analysed using the computer software Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences (SPSS) 11.0. Results:
Of the nine cases three died of their disease, one died of ovarian cancer and
five are still alive and disease free. The mean age at diagnosis was 54.8
years. Time from onset of symptoms to diagnosis averaged one month. All
diagnoses were confirmed histologically. The most common presenting complaint
was a lump. Treatment in all but one case involved surgical excision, one case
had chemotherapy alone and two cases had surgery followed by radiotherapy. Conclusions:
To talk of five year survival for patients with such a rare cancer, so many
histological types with variable cell differentiation plus the unknown of when
sarcomatous cells metastasize from even early FIGO staged lesions is in our
opinion taking generalisation to far. A multidisciplinary approach to
management achieves the best results for each individual and pooling multicentre
data will improve our understanding of this rare disease and benefit future
patients.
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