PURPOSETo identify specific independent adverse clinicopathologic factors for event-free survival in a cohort of consecutively treated patients with extremity soft tissue sarcomas.PATIENTS AND METHODSProspectively collected data from a population of 1,041 adult patients with localized (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] stage IA to IIIB) extremity soft tissue sarcomas were analyzed. Patients were treated at a single institution between 1982 and 1994. Patient, tumor, and pathologic factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate techniques to identify independent prognostic factors for the end points of local recurrence, distant recurrence, disease-specific survival, and post-metastasis survival.RESULTSThe 5-year survival rate for this cohort of patients was 76%, with a median follow-up time of 3.95 years. Significant independent adverse prognostic factors for local recurrence were age greater than 50 years, recurrent disease at presentation, microscopically positive surgical margins, and the h...