Treatment of soft tissue sarcoma in childhood and adolescence: A report of the german cooperative soft tissue sarcoma study

Background In the first German soft tissue sarcoma (STS) study, CWS-81, 344 patients younger than 19 years of age who had previously untreated soft tissue sarcoma were studied. For this analysis, there were 218 patients with chemosensitive STS (Group A: rhabdomyosarcoma [RMS], synovial sarcoma, extraosseous Ewing sarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, undifferentiated sarcoma, and malignant peripheral neuroectodermal tumor) who could be studied for a minimum potential follow-up time of 6 years. Methods A staging system based on the postoperative extent of the disease was used. The chemotherapy for Stage I-III disease consisted of vincristine, dactinomycin, cyclophosphamide, and doxorubicin (VACA). Patien…