Soft Tissue Sarcomas (con't)
Overview of Soft Tissue Sarcomas
Definition of Soft Tissue Sarcomas:
Soft tissue refers to tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body. Soft tissue includes muscles, tendons, fibrous tissue, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and tissues around joints (synovial tissue).
Malignant (cancerous) tumors that develop in soft tissue are called sarcomas, a term that comes from a Greek word meaning "fleshy growth."
Major Types of Soft Tissue Sarcomas in Adults:
| Tissue of Origin |
Type of Cancer |
Usual Location in the Body |
| Fibrous tissue |
Fibrosarcoma |
Arms, legs, trunk |
|
Malignant fibrous |
Legs |
|
Dermatofibrosarcoma |
Trunk |
| Fat |
Liposarcoma |
Arms, legs, trunk |
| Muscle |
|
|
| Striated muscle |
Rhabdomyosarcoma |
Arms, legs |
| Smooth muscle |
Leiomyosarcoma |
Uterus, digestive tract |
| Blood vessels |
Hemangiosarcoma |
Arms, legs, trunk |
|
Kaposi's sarcoma |
Legs, trunk |
| Lymph vessels |
Lymphangiosarcoma |
Arms |
| Synovial tissue |
Synovial sarcoma |
Legs |
| Peripheral nerves |
Neurofibrosarcoma |
Arms, legs, trunk |
| Cartilage and bone-forming tissue |
Extraskeletal chondrosarcoma |
Legs |
|
Extraskeletal osteosarcoma |
Legs, trunk (not |
| Other types |
Hemangiopericytoma |
|
Major Types of Soft Tissue Sarcomas in Children:
|
Tissue of Origin |
Type of Cancer |
Usual Location in the Body |
Most common ages |
|
Muscle |
|
|
|
|
Striated muscle |
Rhabdomyosarcoma Embryonal |
Head and neck, genito-urinary tract |
Infant-4 |
|
|
Alveolar |
Arms, legs, head and neck |
Infant-19 |
|
Smooth muscle |
Leiomyosarcoma |
Trunk |
15-19 |
|
Fibrous tissue |
Fibrosarcoma |
Arms and legs |
15-19 |
|
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma |
Legs |
15-19 |
|
Dermatofibrosarcoma |
Trunk |
15-19 |
|
Fat |
Liposarcoma |
Arms and legs |
15-19 |
|
Blood vessels |
Infantile hemangio-pericytoma |
Arms, legs, trunk, head and neck |
Infant-4 |
|
Synovial tissue |
Synovial sarcoma |
Legs, arms, and trunk |
15-19 |
|
Peripheral nerves |
Malignant peripheral nervesheath tumors (also called neurofibrosarcomas, malignant schwannomas, neurogenic sarcomas) |
Arms, legs and trunk |
15-19 |
|
Muscular nerves |
Alveolar soft part sarcoma |
Arms and legs |
Infant-19 |
|
Cartilage and bone-forming tissue |
Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma |
Legs |
10-14 |
Stages of Soft Tissue Sarcomas:
Stage I
- Stage IA - The tumor is low grade, either near the surface or deep, and is less than 5 cm in size (about 2 inches) but has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
- Stage IB - The tumor is low-grade, near the surface, and more than 5 cm in size. It has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage II
- Stage IIA - The cancer is low grade , deep, and more than 5 cm in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
- Stage IIB - The cancer is high grade, either near the surface or deep, and less than 5 cm in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
- Stage IIC - The cancer is high grade, near the surface, and is more than 5 cm in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage III
The cancer is high grade, deep, more than 5 cm in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage IV
The cancer may have spread to lymph nodes in the area or may have spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, head, or neck.
Recurrent
The cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the tissues where it first started (locally recurrent), or it may come back in another part of the body metastatic).
Other Factors:
If the tumor is considered to be inoperable (unresectable), high-dose preoperative radiation therapy may be used to shrink the tumor so that surgery may be an option.
Location of the tumor is important. About 50% of soft tissue sarcomas occur in the extremities (the arms, legs, hands, or feet), 40% occur in the trunk (chest, back, hip, shoulders, and abdomen), and 10% occur in the head and neck.
Grades of Soft Tissue Sarcomas:
Grade indicates how the cancer cells look under a microscope and how quickly they are likely to grow and spread. Unlike most other cancers, the grade of a soft tissue sarcoma is more important than the size of the tumor.
Grades 1 and 2 are considered low-grade.
Grade I - well differentiated. The cells look very much like normal cells. These tumors grow and spread slowly.
Grade II - moderately differentiated. The cells look somewhat different from normal cells.
These tumors grow and spread less slowly than grade 1 tumors.
Grades 3 and 4 are considered high grade.
Grade III - poorly differentiated. The cells look very different from normal cells and grow and spread quickly.
Grade IV - undifferentiated. The cells appear very abnormal. The cancer grows and spreads very quickly. The cancer is considered to be "aggressive.
