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Intramuscular lipomas, atypical lipomatous tumors rarely recurred after resection
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Intramuscular lipomas and atypical lipomatous tumors may be known to recur after surgical resection, but researchers found they can be successfully excised with a very low recurrence rate and no distant metastasis.
Sune Frederik Jauffred, MD, and colleagues, retrospectively assessed intramuscular lipomas (IML) and atypical lipomatous tumors (ALT) which were surgically excised from the trunk or extremities of a patient using marginal resection.
“We had a low recurrence rate for the IMLs. It is what we expected because it is a more benign kind of tumor than the ALT. Normally we would expect that to recur less, which it did. Furthermore, we saw no metastasis or any deaths related to the tumor itself. We also expected that because that is known from other studies. Primarily when they appear in non-orthopaedic places, such as the retroperitoneum, they tend to get dangerous in a patient. But when they appear in the extremities or trunk wall, they are less dangerous,” Jauffred told Orthopaedics Today Europe.
The retrospective study Jauffred and colleagues conducted is among the top papers scheduled to be presented at the EFORT Congress in Prague. Investigators analyzed 135 patients with IML and 35 patients with ALT who had the tumors surgically excised between 1997 and 2007 at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. Only the tumors were excised and the surrounding tissue was left intact, according to Jauffred.
In the IML group, 8 patients of 144 patients had tumors recur (6%) and 4 tumors recurred unchanged as IML. The remaining 4 tumors recurred as ALT. In the ALT group, 6 patients of the 35 patients had tumors recur (17%). Two tumors recurred as ALT and one tumor as an ILM. The three other patients had tumors recur as de-differentiated liposarcoma.
The 5-year local recurrence free survival was 97%. It was 85% for the IML and ALT patient groups.
“One of the most important things in the study is we know the method we are using is adequate. It is the right way to remove them based on the relatively low recurrence rates. We are doing the right thing. We are not there yet at 0%,” Jauffred said.
Although it was a retrospective study, every patient included is registered in Denmark and can be found in any medical registries in the country. It is an advantage over similar studies in the literature, he said, because researchers can track patients in the future to see if additional incidents occurred.
Image: Jauffred SF
“We can make good follow-up for our patients not just within 1 year, but we can follow them up for a long time. We can follow them in different registers, even if they move to another area in Denmark,” Jauffred said. – by Robert Linnehan
- Reference:
- Jauffred SF, et al. Poster #1813. Scheduled to be presented 29 May at: EFORT Congress; May 27-29, 2015; Prague.
- For more information:
- Sune Frederik Jauffred, MD, can be reached at Bispebjerg Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, 2400 København NV, Denmark; email: sune.jauffred@gmail.com.
Disclosure: Jauffred reports no relevant financial disclosures.