gms | German Medical Science

Objectives: Wound healing complications (WHC) are a known challenge in soft tissue sarcoma surgery.Aim of this study was to evaluate positive and negative predictive values influencing WHC in order to reduce future numbers of cases and improve patients' recovery.

Methods: The study was performed as a single-institutional, retrospective study at a supranational tumor center over a three-year time-period from April 2019 to June 2021. 588 patients were included, out of these 54,3% were initially treated at our center, 45,7% were later referred after insufficient primary surgery. 41 different factors were observed,including general patient information regarding gender and age, as well as general clinical information regarding diagnostics, number of operations, (neo)adjuvant treatment, wound closure, and follow up.

Results and conclusion: Univariate and Multivariate analysis showed no correlation to neither neoadjuvant nor adjuvant radiotherapy (p = .453, p = .553). Main identified negative predictive values were age (p = .002), gender (p = .048), size (p = .002), localization (p = .010), grading (p = .013), bone tissue involvement (p= <.001), number of revision procedures (p = <.001), and presence of metastasis (p = <.001) or other oncologic diseases (p = .039). Interestingly, neoadjuvant Chemotherapy presented as main positive predictive value, reducing the event of WHC (p = .029) and number of overall revision procedures (p = <.001). Leading into our conclusion to screen patients for identified risk factors and when detected to reevaluate planned surgical procedures in terms of two-stage wound closure and free muscle flap.