What Is a Soft Tissue Sarcoma?

Soft tissue sarcomas is a cancer that forms within the soft tissue of the body such as the nerves, fat, blood vessels, and deep within the skin. This is not limited to one part of the body, but often found on the legs and arms. This type of cancer is not common and some of these are tumors and not cancerous.

Tumors in the Muscle Tissue

Soft tissue sarcoma can occur in the muscle tissue. There are two types of tumors that occur in the muscles, one is the skeletal and the other is smooth muscle. The skeletal muscles include any muscle in the body such as those that move your legs or arms. Smooth muscle tumors show up in the intestines, blood vessels, and even the uterus of women.

Fat Tissue Tumors

Fat tissue tumors can be either cancerous or benign. For instance, lipomas, hibernomas, and lipoblastomas are all benign tumors while liposcarcomas are malignant fat tissue tumors. Discovering these types of tumors early is the key to successful treatment.

Treatment Options of Soft Tissue Sarcoma

The treatment for all forms of soft tissue sarcoma, especially the malignant type is the ability to restore function to the area where the tumor has been, which often consists of surgery to remove it and then enter rehabilitation depending where the tumor was located. Cancerous tumors often need chemotherapy to make sure all the cancer cells have died. Radiation is often given to target the area where the cancer cells are. The earlier treatment begins the better the prognosis if the tumor is cancerous.