Chemotherapy for metastatic soft tissue sarcomas

Once soft tissue sarcomas have become metastatic, or if local disease is too extensive for control with surgery and/or radiotherapy, chemotherapy may be considered as a possible treatment modality. Unfortunately adult soft tissue sarcomas are among the most chemoresistant of all malignancies, and it is important to know the limitations of its use as well as its potential value. This chapter summarizes our current knowledge of the activity of single-agent chemotherapy and of combination regimens, and reviews the potential value of high-dose and dose-intensive regimens. Given the limited value of conventional chemotherapy in this disease, future directions for research are discussed and the importance of treating patients within controlled clinical trials is emphasized.