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Synovial sarcoma is a malignant soft tissue tumor which is the most prevalent in adolescents and young adults between 10 and 40 years of age. It occurs primarily in the para-articular regions, usually in close association with tendon sheath, bursae and joint capsules. Favorable clinical factors are young age of the patients, tumor size smaller than 5cm, and distal rather than proximal location in the extremities.We analyzed clinical findings of 13 cases of synovial sarcoma that had been experienced from January 1983 to December 1992. There were 8 females and 5 males, whose age was averaged as 28 years and 10 months ranging from 6 years to 54 years. The mean follow-up was 3 years(range : 9 months- 9 years 1 month). Palpable mass was frequent clinical symptom and lower extremity especially around the knee was the most prevalent site. Treatment modalities were the combination of surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Distant metastasis occurred in 5(38%) cases : 4 cases to lung and I case to neck, and 2 cases had local recurrences. At final follow-up 6 cases were continuous disease free, 2 alive with disease and 5 died of disease. The Kaplan-Meier´s estimated 5 year survival rate of total 13 cases was 66% and satisfactory results were obtained with mass size smaller than 5cm.
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