Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology Program

Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma

What Is Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma?

Adult soft tissue sarcoma is a disease in which cancerous cells develop somewhere in the soft tissues of the body. The soft tissues include muscles, tendons (bands of fiber that connect muscles to bones), fibrous tissues, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and synovial tissues (tissues around joints). Soft tissues connect, support, and surround other body parts and organs.

There are many types of soft tissue tumors that develop in different parts of the body. Many of them are benign. The malignant (cancerous) types of soft tissue sarcoma include the following:

Fibrosarcoma-- begins in fibrous tissue in the arms and legs
Neurofibrosarcoma-- begins in nerves near the surface of arms, legs, and trunk
Rhabdomyosarcomas -- tumors of the skeletal muscle (rare in adults)
Angiosarcomas -- tumors in the blood (hemangiosarcomas) or lymph vessels (lymphangiosarcomas)
Kaposi's sarcoma -- cancer of the lining of the lymph or blood vessels (occurs most often in patients with AIDS)
Leiomyosarcoma -- begins in muscles in the trunk
Liposarcoma -- malignant tumors that begin in fat tissue
Synovial sarcoma -- begins in linings of joint cavities and tendon sheaths (small pockets of fluid that surround and protect the tendons) in the legs, arms, and trunk (more common in young adults)
Hemangiopericytoma-- begins in blood vessels in the arms, legs, trunk, head, and neck.
Alveolar soft-part sarcoma -- begins in nerves to the muscles in the arms and legs (a rare cancer found most often in young adults)
Malignant fibrous histiocytoma -- begins in fibrous tissue in the legs (most commonly found in older adults)
Desmoid tumor (fibromatosis) -- is not cancer, but may be confused with a type of fibrosarcoma and may be extremely serious

This page was last updated on: March 4, 2008.