Soft tissue sarcomas
What Is It?
Soft tissue is a term that doctors use to describe all the supporting tissues in the body, apart from the bones. Soft tissue includes:Fat
Muscle
Blood vessels
Deep skin tissues
Nerves
The tissues around joints (synovial tissues)
Most types of cancer are named after the type of cells that they develop from:
Carcinomas are cancers of epithelial cells and gland cells (adenocarcinomas)
Osteosarcomas are cancers of bone
Sarcomas are cancers that develop from the cells that make up soft tissue
Soft tissue is in all parts of the body. So sarcomas can grow almost anywhere. If the cancer is not treated, the cancer cells continue to divide and the cancer will grow in size.
The growth of the cancer causes a swelling in the soft tissues surrounding it. This can cause pressure on any body tissues or organs nearby. Eventually, cancer cells from the original site may break away and spread to other parts of the body via the lymphatic system or through the blood stream.
If the cancer cells get into the blood stream they can spread to almost any organ in the body, including the lungs or bones. These cells can then form other cancers, which are known as secondary cancers or metastases.
Symptoms
In their early stages soft tissue sarcomas do not usually cause symptoms. As sarcomas can grow anywhere in the body, the symptoms will depend on where the cancer is. The main symptoms can include:A lump that is painless at first
Pain or soreness as the lump grows and presses against nerves and muscles
Of course, most lumps and bumps will not be cancer. A lump is more likely to be a sarcoma if it is increasing in size or if it is more than 5 cm across.
Treatment
The main treatments used are:Surgery
Radiotherapy
Chemotherapy
Treatment for each stage of sarcoma