Soft-tissue tumors range from benign to malignant tumors. Although these tumors are frequently unsuspected during surgical excision, additional pathology examination is usually performed in the absence of national guidelines in combination with the fear of missing a malignant tumor. The aim of this study is to investigate if it is safe to refrain from routinely performing pathology examinations of soft-tissue tumors when they are clinically unsuspected to have malignant origins. Data from all routinely performed pathology examinations from patients with one or more clinically unsuspected resected soft-tissue tumors between January 2018 and January 2021 were retrospectively extracted from a merged prospectively maintained institutional database. The primary outcome was the overall rate of premalignant and malignant soft-tissue tumors. Secondary outcomes included specific patient and tumor characteristics in patients with premalignant or malignant soft-tissue tumors and the healthcare costs associated with the performed pathology examinations. In this study, 1,035 resected soft-tissue tumors from 823 patients were analyzed. In total, 1,033 tumors (99.8%) turned out to be benign during the pathology examination, and the remaining two tumors (0.2%) were intermediate soft-tissue tumors without clinical consequences. Both intermediate soft-tissue tumors were larger than 10 cm during clinical examination and were larger than 5 cm during the final pathology examination. The estimated costs spent to perform these pathology examinations were €44,009. Refraining from pathology examination in unsuspected soft-tissue tumors smaller than 5 cm seems to be safe, as no malignant tumor was found in this large cohort of patients. In addition, a cost reduction of €11,000 per year can be achieved by refraining from pathology examinations in this specific group of small non-suspected soft-tissue tumors.
| Published in | Journal of Surgery (Volume 9, Issue 5) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.js.20210905.14 |
| Page(s) | 233-237 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Soft-tissue Tumors, Pathologic Examination, Healthcare Costs
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APA Style
Marije Zwakman, Judith Eleonora Katharina Regina Hentzen, Agnes Marije Hoogland, José van der Starre-Gaal, Engelbertus Gerardus Johannes Maria Pierik, et al. (2021). The Diagnostic Value of Pathology Examination in Clinically Unsuspected Lipomatous Soft-tissue Tumors. Journal of Surgery, 9(5), 233-237. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20210905.14
ACS Style
Marije Zwakman; Judith Eleonora Katharina Regina Hentzen; Agnes Marije Hoogland; José van der Starre-Gaal; Engelbertus Gerardus Johannes Maria Pierik, et al. The Diagnostic Value of Pathology Examination in Clinically Unsuspected Lipomatous Soft-tissue Tumors. J. Surg. 2021, 9(5), 233-237. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20210905.14
AMA Style
Marije Zwakman, Judith Eleonora Katharina Regina Hentzen, Agnes Marije Hoogland, José van der Starre-Gaal, Engelbertus Gerardus Johannes Maria Pierik, et al. The Diagnostic Value of Pathology Examination in Clinically Unsuspected Lipomatous Soft-tissue Tumors. J Surg. 2021;9(5):233-237. doi: 10.11648/j.js.20210905.14
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Download@article{10.11648/j.js.20210905.14,
author = {Marije Zwakman and Judith Eleonora Katharina Regina Hentzen and Agnes Marije Hoogland and José van der Starre-Gaal and Engelbertus Gerardus Johannes Maria Pierik and Anne Brecht Francken},
title = {The Diagnostic Value of Pathology Examination in Clinically Unsuspected Lipomatous Soft-tissue Tumors},
journal = {Journal of Surgery},
volume = {9},
number = {5},
pages = {233-237},
doi = {10.11648/j.js.20210905.14},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20210905.14},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.js.20210905.14},
abstract = {Soft-tissue tumors range from benign to malignant tumors. Although these tumors are frequently unsuspected during surgical excision, additional pathology examination is usually performed in the absence of national guidelines in combination with the fear of missing a malignant tumor. The aim of this study is to investigate if it is safe to refrain from routinely performing pathology examinations of soft-tissue tumors when they are clinically unsuspected to have malignant origins. Data from all routinely performed pathology examinations from patients with one or more clinically unsuspected resected soft-tissue tumors between January 2018 and January 2021 were retrospectively extracted from a merged prospectively maintained institutional database. The primary outcome was the overall rate of premalignant and malignant soft-tissue tumors. Secondary outcomes included specific patient and tumor characteristics in patients with premalignant or malignant soft-tissue tumors and the healthcare costs associated with the performed pathology examinations. In this study, 1,035 resected soft-tissue tumors from 823 patients were analyzed. In total, 1,033 tumors (99.8%) turned out to be benign during the pathology examination, and the remaining two tumors (0.2%) were intermediate soft-tissue tumors without clinical consequences. Both intermediate soft-tissue tumors were larger than 10 cm during clinical examination and were larger than 5 cm during the final pathology examination. The estimated costs spent to perform these pathology examinations were €44,009. Refraining from pathology examination in unsuspected soft-tissue tumors smaller than 5 cm seems to be safe, as no malignant tumor was found in this large cohort of patients. In addition, a cost reduction of €11,000 per year can be achieved by refraining from pathology examinations in this specific group of small non-suspected soft-tissue tumors.},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - The Diagnostic Value of Pathology Examination in Clinically Unsuspected Lipomatous Soft-tissue Tumors AU - Marije Zwakman AU - Judith Eleonora Katharina Regina Hentzen AU - Agnes Marije Hoogland AU - José van der Starre-Gaal AU - Engelbertus Gerardus Johannes Maria Pierik AU - Anne Brecht Francken Y1 - 2021/09/30 PY - 2021 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20210905.14 DO - 10.11648/j.js.20210905.14 T2 - Journal of Surgery JF - Journal of Surgery JO - Journal of Surgery SP - 233 EP - 237 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-0930 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.js.20210905.14 AB - Soft-tissue tumors range from benign to malignant tumors. Although these tumors are frequently unsuspected during surgical excision, additional pathology examination is usually performed in the absence of national guidelines in combination with the fear of missing a malignant tumor. The aim of this study is to investigate if it is safe to refrain from routinely performing pathology examinations of soft-tissue tumors when they are clinically unsuspected to have malignant origins. Data from all routinely performed pathology examinations from patients with one or more clinically unsuspected resected soft-tissue tumors between January 2018 and January 2021 were retrospectively extracted from a merged prospectively maintained institutional database. The primary outcome was the overall rate of premalignant and malignant soft-tissue tumors. Secondary outcomes included specific patient and tumor characteristics in patients with premalignant or malignant soft-tissue tumors and the healthcare costs associated with the performed pathology examinations. In this study, 1,035 resected soft-tissue tumors from 823 patients were analyzed. In total, 1,033 tumors (99.8%) turned out to be benign during the pathology examination, and the remaining two tumors (0.2%) were intermediate soft-tissue tumors without clinical consequences. Both intermediate soft-tissue tumors were larger than 10 cm during clinical examination and were larger than 5 cm during the final pathology examination. The estimated costs spent to perform these pathology examinations were €44,009. Refraining from pathology examination in unsuspected soft-tissue tumors smaller than 5 cm seems to be safe, as no malignant tumor was found in this large cohort of patients. In addition, a cost reduction of €11,000 per year can be achieved by refraining from pathology examinations in this specific group of small non-suspected soft-tissue tumors. VL - 9 IS - 5 ER -
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