THE RECOMMENDATION OF SYSTEMIC THERAPIES IN SARCOMA ANDREW J. HAYES /BJC/2024 12 TH JUNE 2024/ SARCOMA Systemic treatments for the majority of advanced STS are not curative; median survival time is 12-18 months. Published chemotherapy response rates vary enormously; from 10 – 50% depending on the drugs used, patient selection, and tumour grade and histological subtype(I,B). Treatment recommendations should be guided by patient performance status, disease extent, rate of progression, and potential sensitivity to treatment (I,A) Standard fi rst-line treatment is single-agent doxorubicin (I,A). Ifosfamide may be used fi rst-line if anthracyclines are contraindicated and is a standard option for second-line therapy (I,B) Although the combination of doxorubicin and ifosfamide has not been demonstrated to improve survival in comparison to single agent doxorubicin fi rst-line, response rates and progression free survival are higher, and it may be considered in individual patients where a response would improve symptoms or facilitate other treatment modalities (II,B) Additional second-line agents include trabectedin, and the combination of gemcitabine/ docetaxel or gemcitabine/dacarbazine. The choice of agent depends on histology, toxicity pro fi le and patient preference (II,B). Increasingly treatments more speci fi c for sarcoma subtypes are being elucidated, such as NTRK inhibitors for tumours harbouring NTRK-fusions, and immunotherapy in subtypes such as alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS). For those diseases, such as ASPS, which do not respond to chemotherapy, a targeted therapy should be considered fi rst-line, if a suitable drug is available (III,A). Surgical resection of locally recurrent disease should be considered where feasible. For patients with oligometastatic disease surgery, radiotherapy, or ablative therapies (RFA, SABR, cryotherapy, microwave, ECT) should be considered in individual cases, although there are limited data on survival bene fi t (III,B)