Forequarter amputation for malignancy.

BACKGROUND: Forequarter amputation (FQA) is an important treatment for malignant disease of the shoulder girdle. The aim of this study was to elucidate its role in surgical oncology.

METHODS: This retrospective study analysed 40 patients who had an FQA. In nine, the chest wall was resected. The most frequent diagnoses were soft-tissue sarcoma (28 patients) and recurrent breast cancer (five).

RESULTS: Median follow-up was 16 (range 1-184) months. The 1-year, 2-year and 5-year overall survival for patients with malignant disease was 71, 59 and 38 per cent respectively. The median time to local recurrence (eight patients) was 4 (range 1-19) months. Thirty-two patients had curative FQA with a 1-year, 2-year and 5-year overall survival of 90, 75 and 48 per cent respectively, and a median overall survival of 51 months. The 5-year overall and disease-free survival for soft-tissue sarcoma was 41 and 26 per cent respectively. Eight patients had a palliative FQA with a median survival of 5 (range 1-12) months.

CONCLUSION: In locoregional disease such as sarcoma, FQA may offer the only possibility of cure. However, in patients with axillary metastasis, FQA has no impact on survival, although local control may improve the patient's quality of life.