Enrico Martin

240 Chapter 10 Results Demographics of survey responders A total of 174 respondents filled out the survey, most of which were European surgeons ( Figure 1 ). The most common surgical subspecialty was plastic surgery (48.9%, Figure 2 ). The ‘other’ surgical subspecialty group consisted mainly of non-oncologic orthopedic and general surgeons other than surgical oncologists. On average, respondents had 14.2 years (±9.5) of surgical experience, of which the largest proportion (38.2%) finished their surgical training less than 10 years ago ( Table 1 ). Fellowship experience differed between subspecialties (p<0.001) and neurosurgeons most commonly classified themselves as peripheral nerve surgeons (p<0.001). Highest caseloads were performed by surgical oncologists (p<0.001). What tumor locations surgeons operate differed between subspecialties (p<0.05), except for the brachial plexus (41.9%) and extremities which were operated by most surgeons (87.2%, both p>0.05). Postoperative functional status Most surgeons observe a combination of neuropathic pain, motor disability, and sensory loss after resection of MPNSTs (69.7%, Figure 3 ). On average, surgeons reported 36.8±25.5% of patients presenting with a motor deficit and 40.9±22.9% with neuropathic pain postoperatively, with no differences reported between subspecialties (both p>0.05). Conservation of function is always considered preoperatively by 52.8% of respondents, more commonly by plastic surgeons (65.5%, p>0.05, Table 1 ). Others consider it only in some cases based on localization (n = 3), in case it does not interfere with oncologic resection (n = 1), in case of multiple lesions (n = 1), if another nerve bundle 70% 23% 4% 2% 1% 1% Count (n) 25 50 75 100 Figure 1 World map showing survey respondents’ country of origin. The size of each bubble is proportional to amount of respondents.