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Sarcoma Cancer

Soft Tissue sarcomas are malignant tumors that can develop from fat, muscle, nerve or fibrous tissues surrounding the joints, blood vessel, or deep skin tissue and can occur in almost any organ, including the lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidney, and the extremities.

Several inherited genetic conditions are risk factors for soft tissue sarcoma, as well as previous cancer treatment and specific environmental exposures. Sarcoma tumors have a propensity to recur locally and to spread through the blood vessels to distant sites, primarily to the lungs.

Because of its rarity, sarcoma has not received the same level of attention or research funding as other more common forms of cancer. Fewer than one percent of all adult tumors are sarcomas.

In 1996, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center opened the Sarcoma Disease Site Center, a multidisciplinary sarcoma treatment clinic that was the first of its kind in the nation.

Liposarcoma - Liposarcoma is among the most common of the soft tissue sarcoma histological subtypes. Although liposarcomas can occur anywhere in the body, they have a predilection for the deep pelvis and retroperitoneum.

(Information provided by The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society.)