In Reply to: pleural sarcoma Posted by 'joe ' on June 24, 2008 at 01:11:54:
A variety of pleural cavity sarcomas have been described, including liposarcoma, chondrosarcoma, osteosarcoma, and malignant schwannoma. Pleural synovial sarcoma, however, is a much rarer entity. In fact, pleural synovial sarcoma was first described only 6 years ago 7 and has not yet been reported in the surgical literature.
Because of its rarity, pleural synovial sarcoma is often mistaken for the histologically similar malignant mesothelioma, the most common of the pleural neoplasms.This is a critical distinction, because synovial sarcoma may be extremely aggressive. Studies in the last 10 years have shown it to be extremely sensitive to ifosfamide-based chemotherapy, and survival of patients with synovial sarcoma has recently increased with chemotherapy, with 5-year survivals now as high as 57%.
Received for publication Jan 29, 2002.