Association of inflammatory complications following resection and immediate reconstruction with soft tissue sarcoma recurrence

Abstract

Purpose: Wide excision and subsequent reconstruction of the defect are crucial pillars in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma (STS); however, those procedures carry a relatively high risk of postoperative complications, which could raise oncologic concerns. The present study evaluated the association of postoperative complications after resection and immediate reconstruction with STS recurrence. Methods: We reviewed patients with primary STS who underwent wide resection and immediate reconstruction between 2011 and 2019. Patients were categorized into three groups based on their postoperative inflammatory complication status: no complications, noninflammatory complications, and inflammatory complications. Inflammatory complications were defined as those involving a sustained elevation of inflammatory markers in laboratory tests after postoperative 2 weeks. The cumulative incidence of oncologic events and their respective hazard ratios (HRs) were evaluated using multivariable Cox regression analyses. Results: In total, 94 patients with a median follow-up of 54.8 months were analyzed, including 17 with inflammatory complications, 17 with noninflammatory complications, and 60 with no complications. The three groups showed similar baseline characteristics except for older age and a lower rate of FNCLCC (Fédération Nationale des Centres de Lutte Contre Le Cancer) grade 3 in the inflammatory complications group. The inflammatory complications group showed significantly worse disease-free survival than the no complications group. This difference remained significant after adjustment for other variables in multivariate analyses (HR, 3.485; p=0.019). The development of noninflammatory complications was not associated with oncologic outcomes. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the development of inflammatory complications following wide excision and immediate reconstruction may be associated with the recurrence of STS.