The diagnosis is usually made by confirming the presence of a soft tissue mass on imaging studies such as CT or MRI. Currently, CT (of the upper and lower abdomen and thorax) is considered the preferred imaging method for soft tissue tumors, particularly those in the retroperitoneal space.
The treatment of choice for localized primary retroperitoneal sarcoma is wide surgical resection with healthy margins. Sometimes, to achieve healthy margins, neighboring organs may need to be resected as well. The resectability rates in the international literature vary between 25-95%. Radical resection of the tumor with negative margins (R0) is the best prognostic factor for survival.
The 5-year survival rate for patients with completely resected retroperitoneal sarcomas ranges, according to the results of a large study, between 54-64%. The median survival of patients with incompletely resected sarcomas is 18 months and does not differ from that of patients who did not undergo any surgical resection.