Histological Typing and Grading of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) Experience and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Accurate histological typing of soft tissue sarcomas (STS) is a challenging task for pathologists [1–3]. Because of the significant diagnostic discordance among pathologists, the importance of histopathology peer review in the analysis of therapeutic trials has been emphasized [1, 4, 5]. Although the histological grade of malignancy (HGM) is considered to be the most important prognostic indicator, the grading system is highly complex and is not entirely reproducible [1, 6]. This report presents (1) the experience of the ECOG Pathology Review Committee with histological typing and grading of STS, including comparison of the ECOG experience with the other sarcoma study groups, (2) prognostic significance of HGM and various grading systems used by major group studies, and (3) influence of histological type and tumor grade on chemosensitivity of advanced adult STS in the ECOG trial EST 3377 [5].