Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2013 Jul 28:2013:852462.
doi: 10.1155/2013/852462. eCollection 2013.

Multidisciplinary management of soft tissue sarcoma

Lukas M Nystrom  1 , Nickolas B Reimer, John D Reith, Long Dang, Robert A Zlotecki, Mark T Scarborough, C Parker Gibbs Jr
Affiliations
Review

Multidisciplinary management of soft tissue sarcoma

Lukas M Nystrom et al. ScientificWorldJournal. .

Abstract

Soft tissue sarcoma is a rare malignancy, with approximately 11,000 cases per year encountered in the United States. It is primarily encountered in adults but can affect patients of any age. There are many histologic subtypes and the malignancy can be low or high grade. Appropriate staging work up includes a physical exam, advanced imaging, and a carefully planned biopsy. This information is then used to guide the discussion of definitive treatment of the tumor which typically involves surgical resection with a negative margin in addition to neoadjuvant or adjuvant external beam radiation. Advances in imaging and radiation therapy have made limb salvage surgery the standard of care, with local control rates greater than 90% in most modern series. Currently, the role of chemotherapy is not well defined and this treatment is typically reserved for patients with metastatic or recurrent disease and for certain histologic subtypes. The goal of this paper is to review the current state of the art in multidisciplinary management of soft tissue sarcoma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PET scan obtained to evaluate and stage the extent of histologically confirmed local recurrence of left lower leg soft tissue sarcoma.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Tru-Cut core needle biopsy device (Dyna Medical, Ontario, Canada). The device functions by discharging a spring-loaded hollow bored needle a distance of 2 cm into the targeted tissue to obtain the core specimen (b).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Pre-operative axial T1 post-contrast MRI demonstrating a large, deep, soft tissue sarcoma contained within the deltoid musculature, and (b) the core needle biopsy specimen (Frozen Section, H&E, 20x) demonstrating high-grade undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma. (c) The same tumor on a restaging axial T1 MRI after pre-operative radiation demonstrating a thick fibrous rind. Also evident is that the tumor has grown slightly with radiation. (d) Histopathologic slide (H&E, 20x) from the resection specimen demonstrating substantial treatment effect from the radiation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cormier JN, Pollock RE. Soft tissue sarcomas. A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2004;54(2):94–109. - PubMed
    1. Jemal A, Murray T, Ward E, et al. Cancer statistics, 2005. A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2005;55(1):10–30. - PubMed
    1. Cancer Facts and Figures 2012. Atlanta, Ga, USA: American Cancer Society; 2012.
    1. Wibmer C, Leithner A, Zielonke N, Sperl M, Windhager R. Increasing incidence rates of soft tissue sarcomas? A population-based epidemiologic study and literature review. Annals of Oncology. 2009;21(5):1106–1111. - PubMed
    1. Musculoskeletal Tumors 2. Rosemont, Ill, USA: American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; 2007.

LinkOut - more resources