Sarcoma

Sarcoma refers to any cancerous tumor within the body's connective tissue. It is divided into two main groups:

• Bone sarcomas—tumors in the bone
• Soft tissue sarcomas—tumors in the muscle, cartilage, nerves, fat, blood vessels and deep skin tissue

Diagnosing a sarcoma may look different for each patient as signs and symptoms may present differently depending on the type of sarcoma that is present. Most often, our doctors will use imaging exams to view the bones and soft tissues.

These can include:

• Computed tomography (CT) scan
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Ultrasound

If your doctor suspects a sarcoma is present, they may recommend a biopsy of the area to determine if the cells are cancerous.

Types of sarcoma

Because sarcomas can develop in many different areas of the body, there are many kinds of sarcoma, including:

• Angiosarcoma—develops from cells that make up the walls of blood vessels
• Chondrosarcoma—a bone sarcoma that develops in cartilage cells
• Ewing's sarcoma—a bone sarcoma that commonly affects young adults in the thigh bone and shin bone
• Fibroblastic sarcoma—develops in the fibrous tissues of the body
• Leiomyosarcoma—develops in the smooth muscle cells
• Liposarcoma—develops from the fat cells in the body
• Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST)—develops in the cells that cover nerves
• Rhabdomyosarcoma—develops in the skeletal or voluntary muscles of the body
• Synovial sarcoma—develops in cells around the joints and tendons

Our doctors use the following to treat sarcomas:

• Chemotherapy
• Radiation therapy
• Surgical removal of the tumor