Prognosis

In principle, liposarcoma is curable. However, the chances of cure depend on the size and cell structure (see pathology) of the tumor. Prognostically important is also the fact whether metastases have already formed.

With “well differentiated” liposarcoma, the prognosis is usually very good. The 5-year survival rate here is 88 – 100%. This means that after 5 years 88 – 100% of the patients are still alive.

The good prognosis is also due to the fact that metastases rarely form in this form. The prognosis for “myxoid/round-cell” liposarcoma is worse. The 5-year survival rate is only about 50%.

The “pleomorphic” liposarcoma sometimes has the worst prognosis. The 5-year survival rate is only 20%. A similarly bad prognosis is given by the rarer “Dedifferentiated” liposarcoma.

Liposarcomas have a high recurrence rate (relapse rate) of about 50%. In a liposarcoma, the tumor is classified into a specific tumor stage, on the basis of which further therapy is carried out. A decisive factor for the healing process is whether the tumor is located at only one site or whether metastases have already formed and spread throughout the body in the form of daughter tumors.

In 50% of cases, a liposarcoma can be completely removed surgically. Complete removal is important and has a great influence on healing, as incompletely removed tumors grow back quickly and lead to a relapse. In general, a high relapse rate of 50% is observed in liposarcomas and 15-20% of patients develop metastases, which mainly affect the lungs, in rare cases bones or the liver.

If the operation succeeds in completely removing both the primary tumor and any metastases present surgically, the patient can remain tumor-free in the long term. Timely treatment is often promising and can also lead to healing. In principle, a liposarcoma is curable, but the chances of cure depend on the individual course of the patient’s disease.

The size and degree of differentiation of the tumor play a particularly important role. The degree of differentiation is determined microscopically on the basis of tissue samples and describes how much the cells have changed compared to healthy fatty tissue. The survival rate is strongly associated with the degree of differentiation.In well-differentiated tumors, 75% of patients have not relapsed five years after initial diagnosis. For moderately differentiated tumors, the figure is only 50% and for poorly differentiated tumors 25%.