Synovial sarcoma.

The contributions of Dr. Arthur Purdy Stout to surgical pathology and his observations pertaining to soft tissue tumors (and, more specifically, to synovial sarcoma) are briefly reviewed. In addition, a report on 185 patients treated at the Mayo Clinic for synovial sarcoma is reviewed. In that study, histologic subclassification stratified the tumors as follows: 33% with a predominant biphasic pattern, 31% with a monophasic pattern, and 36% with a mixed pattern. For all 185 patients, the 5-year survival rate was 38% and the 10-year rate was 23%. For patients treated since 1960, the survival rates were 55% at 5 years and 38% at 10 years. Female patients, young patients, and patients with tumors less than 5 cm in diameter had significantly higher survival rates than did their counterparts. Although histologic subtyping did not reveal significant differences in patient survival, patients with glandular differentiation of the epithelial elements seemed to do better.