Healy P, Soric I and McNamara D
Sarcomas are solid tumours of mesenchymal cell origin and account for 1% of all adult malignancies. Retroperitoneal sarcomas more commonly affect people in their 50’s who can present to a general surgeon for assessment of non-specific abdominal symptoms. This nature of their presentation and anatomical location provides a diagnostic challenge and initial investigations may be normal. Patients can therefore present late when the tumour is locally advanced.
Complete surgical resection with negative macroscopic margins is the treatment of choice and the only proven modality to improve survival and reduce disease recurrence. Extensive resection of multiple organs may be necessary to offer any chance of cure. The benefits of other treatments such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy are less certain.
We will present the case of a 63-year-old man who presented with a chronic history of non-specific abdominal symptoms and outline the results of his investigations and subsequent management. We will briefly discuss some of the issue relating to the diagnosis and management of retroperitoneal sarcomas in general.