Cancer Type: About Sarcoma
July is Sarcoma Awareness month and it’s a good time to learn more about sarcomas and treatment options available by the team at Comprehensive Cancer Centers.
Sarcoma means a tumor is malignant, or cancerous and can occur in parts of the body. A sarcoma starts in tissues like bone or muscle. Bone and soft tissue sarcomas are the main types of sarcoma. Soft tissue sarcomas can develop in soft tissues like fat, muscle, nerves, fibrous tissues, blood vessels, or deep skin tissues.
There are many types of soft tissue tumors, and not all of them are cancerous. Many benign (non-cancerous) tumors are found in soft tissues. These tumors can’t spread to other parts of the body. Some soft tissue tumors behave in ways between a cancer and a non-cancer. These are called intermediate soft tissue tumors. Sarcomas that most often start in bones, such as osteosarcomas, and sarcomas that are most often seen in children, such as the Ewing Family of Tumors and Rhabdomyosarcoma.
Types of Soft Tissue Sarcomas
There are more than 50 different types of soft tissue sarcomas and some, but not all, are listed here:
- Adult fibrosarcoma – This sarcoma primarily affects fibrous tissue in the legs, arms, or trunk and is most common between the ages of 20 and 60.
- Alveolar soft-part sarcoma – A rare cancer affecting mostly young adults that most commonly start in the legs.
- Angiosarcoma – This can start in blood vessels (hemangiosarcomas) or in lymph vessels (lymphangiosarcomas) and sometimes start in parts of the body that has been treated with radiation Angiosarcomas are sometimes found in the breast after radiation therapy and in limbs with lymphedema.
- Clear cell sarcoma – This is a rare cancer that often starts in tendons in arms or legs. It has some features of malignant melanoma, a cancer that starts in pigment-producing skin cells.
- Desmoplastic small round cell tumor – A rare sarcoma affecting teens and young adults and is found most often in the abdomen (belly).
- Epithelioid sarcoma – This sarcoma most often starts in tissues under the skin of the hands, feet, forearms, or lower legs and teens and young adults are often most affected.
- Leiomyosarcoma – A type of cancer that can start in smooth muscle tissue, often in the abdomen, but can also start in the arms or legs, or uterus.
- Liposarcomas – These are malignant tumors of fat tissue that start most often start in the thigh, behind the knee, and inside the back of the abdomen and mostly in adults 50 – 65 years old.
- Synovial sarcoma – This is a malignant tumor of the tissue around joints including hips, knees, ankles, and shoulders and is more common among children and young adults.
Intermediate Soft Tissue Tumors
These sarcomas may grow and invade nearby tissues and organs, but tend not to spread to other parts of the body.
- Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans – This is a slow-growing cancer of tfibrous tissue beneath the skin, primarily within trunk or limbs and grows into nearby tissues.
- Fibromatosis – This fibrous tissue tumor presents with benign tumors such as fibromas and superficial fibromatosis. They tend to grow slowly and steadily. Also known as desmoid tumors or aggressive fibromatosis.
- Hemangioendothelioma – This blood vessel tumor is considered a low-grade cancer but it can grow into nearby tissues and sometimes can spread to distant parts of the body.
- Infantile fibrosarcoma – The most common soft tissue sarcoma found in children under one year old and tends to be slow growing and less likely to spread to other organs than fibrosarcomas found in adults
Other Sarcoma Tumors
Many benign tumors, or tumors that are not cancer, can also start in soft tissues. Spindle cell spindle cell sarcoma and tumor have cells that look long and narrow under the microscope. Spindle cell tumor is not the specific diagnosis or a specific type of cancer. The tumor may be a sarcoma, or it can be sarcomatoid, meaning another type of tumor that can look like a sarcoma under the microscope.
Should you be diagnosed with a sarcoma, Comprehensive Cancer Centers will develop treatment plans that address each patient’s individual case and needs. Comprehensive’s expert team of medical oncologists and oncology-trained staff provide world-class cancer care to Southern Nevada residents by managing:
- Treatment Plans
- Medicines and Therapies
- Monitoring of Health Progression
- Patient Consultation on All Medical Options Available
- Collaboration of Treatment with All Related Medical Caregivers
Comprehensive Cancer Centers Can Help
Physicians at Comprehensive Cancer Centers provide a variety of treatment options for patients with a sarcoma and other cancers, including world-class clinical research and immunotherapy. To schedule an appointment with the team at Comprehensive, please call 702-952-3350.
The content in this post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.
