A Systematic Review of the Treatment of Superficial Leiomyosarcoma with Mohs Micrographic Surgery

BACKGROUND Wide local excision (WLE) with 2 to 5 cm margins has been conventionally used for the treatment of superficial leiomyosarcoma (LMS). Because margin control is the strongest predictor of clinical recurrence, many dermatologic surgeons have recently recommended Mohs micrographic surgery (MMS) over wide local excision (WLE) as the primary treatment modality.OBJECTIVETo determine the aggregate rate of local recurrence after treatment of superficial LMS with MMS among the few reports in the literature.METHODSA systematic literature search using the PubMed/MEDLINE database and the Cochrane Library was performed from inception to June 2017. One case report from our institution was included.RESULTSA meta-analysis of 14 reports of 48 cases of superficial LMS treated with MMS showed a mean recurrence rate of 2.08% to 6.25% with a mean follow-up period of 1570.9 days, compared to reported recurrence rates of 30% to 50% for WLE. Among these cases there were no reports of distant metastases.CONCLUSIONTreatment of superficial leiomyosarcoma with MMS shows markedly lower rates of recurrence compared to reported rates of recurrence after WLE. Further prospective trials with larger sample sizes are needed to compare both modalities.