Publication:

A study on factors affecting the functional outcome in patients with soft tissue sarcoma: experience from a tertiary care centre

Background Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients undergoing surgery may experience reduced functional outcome compared to the general population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the functional outcome and to determine important predictive factors that affect the post-operative functional outcomes in patients who had undergone surgery for STS.

Methods Authors retrospectively analysed patients who had undergone surgery between January 2016 to November 2023, in our institution and assessed for post-operative functional outcomes, at the end of 6 months and one year. To evaluate the functional outcomes, Musculoskeletal Tumor Society Score (MSTS) was used. Established predictive factors like age, size of the tumor and time since surgery were analysed with Multivariate regression analysis.

Results In the study, a total of 51 patients were assessed with median age of 50 yrs. Age (MSTS score–80 versus 74, p=0.01), size of the tumor (MSTS score–79 versus 74, p=0.03). Time since surgery (significant linear association between functional scores at the end of 6 months and one year, p value=0.0004) were identified as significant predictive factors. Patients who are younger than 40 years, tumor less than 10 cm have better functional outcomes.

Conclusion Functional outcomes in patients who underwent surgery for STS, improve with time. Patients can be reassured that final functional outcome will be better than early post-operative outcome. Age of the patient, size of the tumor and time since surgery were the most consistent and significant determinants of functional outcome.