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Abstract
The purpose was to document trends of incidence and mortality rates of, and the referral and treatment patterns for, soft tissue sarcomas of the limb in Ontario, 1964-93. A total of 3557 incident cases of soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity in the OCR were investigated. Case definitions impacted on the populations derived and the rates generated from the populations. Two different case definitions provided different age-adjusted incidence rates over time; and the age-adjusted all-cause mortality rates trended downward over time for both case definitions. A clustering of increased incidence and mortality rates was observed in northern Ontario. The most common histologic diagnoses were liposarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma. Approximately 55 to 60% of the patients had contact with a tertiary care center which trended upward from 1964-93. The rates of amputation decreased over time and the rate of usage of radiotherapy increased.