Quality measurement for soft tissue sarcomas in Germany - first results of the Certified Sarcoma Centres

Introduction: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare diseases. A high level of standardization and centralisation was lacking in Germany until 2018.Methods: By developing an evidence-based guideline and a certification system for sarcoma centres, foundations for structured, guideline-based and centralised sarcoma care were defined. First results of the certified Sarcoma Centres are presented.Results: The first three years of data collection show good results for case volume, presentation rates in pretherapeutic and postoperative tumor boards, psychooncological counselling and study rates. However, other indicators (e.g. preoperative or postoperative radiotherapy for operated high risk STS without GIST, counselling rates social services) still have potential for improvement. Based on these results, the set of indicators could be further improved.Conclusions: A sarcoma-specific quality assurance scheme that includes guideline-derived quality indicators was developed. In future, a broader database will allow further insights into sarcoma care in Germany.