Peter Mac in global effort to catalogue rare soft-tissue cancer
15 November 2024
Peter Mac surgeons are part of a global effort to catalogue cases of rare retroperitoneal sarcomas (RPS), and their international registry is now approaching a milestone of 3000 cases.
A registry on this scale is unprecedented in RPS, and this growing pool of patient data is supporting major advances in how this life-threatening group of cancers is understood and treated.
The REtroperitoneal SArcoma Registry (RESAR) brings in de-identified demographic information plus patients’ test results (CT scans, blood tests etc) and details of their treatment and outcome.
RESAR was established in 2017 and Peter Mac, as one of its founding institutes, has so far added about 170 patient cases to this global pool.
“Before RESAR, our broader view of this rare group of cancers was informed by journal papers which, at most, described a few hundred patients whose data was collected over decades and lacked the ability to separate out the different cancer types within RPS,” explains Peter Mac surgeon Professor David Gyorki.
“That RESAR is now about to bring in its 3000th case is truly transformative in our efforts to improve understanding of this cancer and improve treatment outcomes, and this is particularly the case for rarer types of RPS we know very little about.
“These efforts are also reaching maturity with a number of research projects made possible by RESAR now ready to announce their findings.”
Prof Gyorki – chair of the international governance committee for RESAR – has gathered with other sarcoma experts in San Diego this week for the CTOS 2024 Annual Meeting (Nov 13 to 16).
Six study outcomes - five oral presentations and a poster - using data from RESAR and its associated collaborations will be presented at this premier international sarcoma conference.
A key theme of this research is: “defining sub-types of RPS which have previously all been bundled together but can now be studied separately as different entities with different clinical behaviours”.
“This allows us to understand which patients may respond well to radiotherapy and other treatments so we can target these treatments to the patients who will benefit,” Prof Gyorki says.
Each year about 250 Australians are diagnosed with RPS. These tumours develop in the soft tissues at the back of the abdomen and close to vital organs and major blood vessels.
They often grow to large sizes before they are found, and surgery is currently the only potentially curative option for RPS that has not spread.
RESAR is also supported by Associate professors Catherine Mitchell and Stephen Schlicht, radiologist Dr Kwang Chin and surgeon Dr Hayden Snow at Peter Mac, and sponsorship from the Australia and New Zealand Sarcoma Association (ANZSA).
ANZSA CEO Denise Caruso says: “We are we are delighted to see the continuing expansion of RESAR and the critical program of research it supports, all focussed on improving outcomes for RPS patients in Australia and beyond”.