Practice referral patterns and outcomes in patients with primary retroperitoneal sarcoma in British Columbia

BackgroundWe examined practice referral patterns for primary retroperitoneal sarcoma (PRS) in British Columbia (BC) and associations between the timing of referral to tertiary care and patient outcomes.MethodsUsing ICD-10 coding, the Cancer Agency Information System was used to identify patients with PRS from 2000 to 2009 who had been referred to tertiary care and had undergone a surgical resection.ResultsEighty-two patients were included. Those referred before surgery were significantly more likely to receive a complete resection (P = .0002) and adjuvant radiation (P = .0000) compared with patients referred after surgery. Referral before surgery was associated with a significantly increased overall (P = .0619) and recurrence-free (P = .0400) survival; however, in the multivariate model this was not significant.ConclusionsReferral before surgery is associated with higher rates of complete resection and the use of adjuvant radiation; furthermore, it is associated with prolonged survival in the univariate but not in the multivariate model.