Histologic Response Following Pre-Operative Radiotherapy for Soft Tissue Sarcoma (STS) in a French Reference Center and Review

Review Data

Q: Is the topic relevant to the journal area of interest? Is it contemporary and interesting for researchers?

A: Good

Abstract & Keywords

Q: Are all required components included in the abstract? Are the keywords appropriately chosen?

A: Good

Goal

Q: Is the goal explicitly stated in the Introduction? Is its formulation clear and unambiguous?

A: Good

Structure

Q: Is the paper's structure coherent? Is it in coherence with the goal of the paper?

A: Good

Tools and Methods

Q: Are methods the author uses adequate and well used?

A: Good      

Comments: The sample size is written as “one thousand twenty-three” which must be “one hundred twenty-three”.

Discussion & Conclusion

Q: Is it related to the results presented before? Do you consider them as coherent?

A: Good

Comments: The Discussion elaborates the results of preoperative radio therapy (RT), mainly in terms of overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS) and event-free survival (EFS) along with relevant literature. It also compares the positive and negative impact of pre-operative RT with respect to histologic responses on survival data. It further states that the retrospective data acts as a limitation to the study.

Literature

Q: Does the author utilize relevant literature?

A: Good

Author's knowledge

Q: What is the level of the author’s knowledge? Does the author utilize all recent contributions relevant to the topic?

A: Good

Length

Q: Is the length of the paper adequate to the significance of the topic? Do you suggest shortening the paper without losing its value?

A: Good

Figures & Tables

Q: Does the author use them suitably? Are legend and notations clear?

A: Good

Writing style

Q: Is it clear and understandable?

A: Good

Further comments on the paper

Comments: A retrospective cohort study of 123 patients with localized soft tissue sarcoma (STS) of the extremity, trunk and retroperitoneal area was treated with pre-operative radiotherapy (RT) at Leon Berard Center in France between 2010 and 2018. Further, overall survival (OS), local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant recurrence-free survival (DRFS) and event-free survival (EFS) were evaluated based on the histologic responses such as necrosis, viable tumor cells and fibrosis. This study also brings out the failure of histologic responses to correlate with outcome.

Q: Would you recommend this manuscript for further publication?

A: Yes - Suitable to be published

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Science Repository Team