Sarcoma Treatment Protocols Around the World
Dr. Jean Yves-Blay: The general strategies and protocols which are used worldwide to treat patients with the most common sarcomas are very close, if not identical. In the case of pediatricians and pediatric protocols, most of the trials are done within a very limited number of groups which basically use the same types of regimen. So it's very much comparable from one country to another across the whole world.
Now when we speak of adult sarcomas there may be slight differences, not really in the type of drugs and agents which are used, but rather in the strategy which is put in place. Should we insert adjuvent chemotherapy, for instance, is still debated. What kind of first-line treatment should we give to patients, a combination of two drugs or a single agent? This is debated, in particular between the United States and Europe. But basically I would say that the general management of sarcoma patients in expert centers worldwide is very comparable, regardless of the country.