Radiation Therapy after Sarcoma Surgery

Dr. Murray Brennan: We now know that the addition of radiation after a surgical operation can decrease the risk of local recurrence of most sarcomas. The real challenge is to decide which patients need the radiation and for which patients should it be avoided. This is particularly difficult when the margin, the edge of the tumor that's removed, is close or contaminated with tumor cells. Most of those patients would receive radiation therapy.

Unfortunately, no treatment is without risks, and there are clearly side effects of surgery and certainly side effects of radiation. So the challenge is to pick those patients who are most likely to benefit from radiation and least likely to be harmed by it.

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