Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Soft tissues include tendons, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and muscles. Soft tissue sarcomas are tumors that can form anywhere in the body. As they grow larger, the tumor can press on organs in the body. Symptoms include the formation of lumps, swelling, pain and trouble breathing.

Types of Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Soft tissue sarcomas are classified as follows:

Alveolar soft part sarcoma
Angiomatoid fibrous histiocytoma
Angiosarcoma
Benign soft tissue sarcoma
Clear cell sarcoma (malignant melanoma of soft parts)
Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans
Desmoid fibromatosis
Desmoplastic small cell tumor
Ectomesenchymoma
Epithelioid sarcoma
Ewing's sarcoma/PNET
Extrarenal rhabdoid tumor
Extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma
Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma
Extraskeletal osteosarcoma
Fibromyxoid sarcoma
Fibrosarcoma
Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
Hemangioendothelioma
Hemangiopericytoma
Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor
Intimal sarcoma
Kaposi's sarcoma
Leiomyoma
Leiomyosarcoma
Lipoma
Liposarcoma
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH)
Malignant glomus tumor
Malignant granular cell tumor
Malignant melanotic schwannoma
Malignant mesenchymoma
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor
Malignant tenosynovial giant cell tumor
Myoepithelioma/mixed tumor of soft tissue
Myofibroblastic sarcoma
Myxofibrosarcoma
Myxoinflammatory fibroblastic sarcoma
Neurofibrosarcoma
PEComa
Rhabdomyosarcoma
Schwannoma
Solitary fibrous tumor
Synovial sarcoma
Unclassified sarcoma

Soft tissue sarcomas are diagnosed by either an incisional biopsy or core biopsy. An incisional biopsy removes part of a lump or a sample of tissue. A core biopsy removes tissue using a wide needle. The sample is examined to determine the grade and severity of the cancer.