Abstract: Background and purpose: Retroperitoneal sarcoma is a rare kind of malignant neoplasms. Complete resection plays a key role in the treatment of retroperitoneal sarcoma, but the recurrence rate is high. Most of the patients with recurrent retroperitoneal sarcoma were eventually diagnosed by a follow-up examination. Again a hard surgical resection with bleeding profusely was approached because of its unclear anatomical level. In this study, we investigated the clinical features, treatment modalities and prognosis of patients with recurrent retroperitoneal sarcoma. Methods: Twenty-five patients with recurrent retroperitoneal sarcomas admitted from Oct. 2007 to Oct. 2016 for surgical resection in a single institution were divided into the complete resection group and partial excision and biopsy group after the operation. Statistical analysis was done using the univariate logistic regression analysis. The survival rate was calculated using Kaplan-Meier curve. Results: A total of 25 cases were enrolled in this study. Grossly complete resection was performed in 16 cases (complete excision rate was 64.0%). Partial excision and biopsy were performed in 6 (24.0%) and 3 (12.0%) cases respectively. Among 16 patients who underwent complete gross resection, 8 had concomitant resection of adjacent viscera (50%). Twenty-four cases had full followup data. The 5-year survival rates of complete resection and partial resection were 56.3% (9/16) and 20% (1/5). The differences between the two groups were significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Complete resection plays an important role in the treatment for recurrent retroperitoneal sarcoma. The study demonstrates that concomitant resection of the adjacent viscera can improve the rate of complete gross resection. Because of the high recurrence rate in malignant tumors, long-term follow-up care is needed.

Key words: Retroperitoneal sarcoma, Resection, Prognosis