Annals of surgery
-
Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Isolated limb perfusion with tumor necrosis factor and melphalan for limb salvage in 186 patients with locally advanced soft tissue extremity sarcomas. The cumulative multicenter European experience.
The objective of the study was to achieve limb salvage in patients with locally advanced soft tissue sarcomas that can only be treated by amputation or functionally mutilating surgery by performing an isolated limb perfusion (ILP) with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) + melphalan (M) as induction biochemotherapy to obtain local control and make limb-sparing surgery possible. ⋯ In the setting of isolated limb perfusion, TNF is an active anticancer drug in patients. The ILP with TNF + melphalan can be performed safely in many centers and is an effective induction treatment with a high response rate that can achieve limb salvage in patients with locally advanced extremity soft tissue sarcoma.