INTRODUCTION
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a heterogeneous group of tumours with diverse origin and histological subtypes.1 They are relatively rare tumours and are even rarer in paediatric patients.2 The crude incidence rate for Soft Tissue Sarcoma in children in Ibadan, Nigeria where most of our patients derive from is 0.56 per 100,000.3 Our practice setting is in a lower middle income environment, and as such general treatment of malignancies can be quite challenging. This is pertinent given the aggressiveness, tendency for recurrence and extensive battery of diagnostic methods needed for exact histologic diagnosis. The cost of health care is borne wholly by the patients without the support of any health insurance scheme. This is burdensome to the patient as well as the health system considering all the treatment modalities involved in managing soft tissue sarcomas. As a result, the best attempt practically at a good outcome in children with Soft Tissue Sarcoma is usually often at the first surgical excision. This is as a consequence of most patients defaulting subsequent adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy resulting in the patients being lost to follow up.4
The management and prognosis of Soft Tissue Sarcomas in children generally, is dependent on a wide surgical excision with histologically free tumour margins, as well as the pre-requisite grade and size of the respective tumours at presentation.1,5–7 This study aims to review the factors during the first surgical excision in our institution (namely tumour grade and size), which affect the long-term prognosis in paediatric patients histologically diagnosed with Soft Tissue Sarcoma.