Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Stages

If a child has soft tissue sarcoma, the doctor will do more tests to find out if the cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This process, called staging, helps the doctor to plan the child’s treatment.

There are several staging systems for childhood soft tissue sarcoma, but there is not one that applies to all types of this sarcoma. In general, the stages are based on whether the cancer has spread or the amount of tumor left after surgery.

They fall in four approximate groups:

Desmoid Tumor: Desmoid tumors are not actually cancers. Desmoid tumors may be confused with a type of fibrosarcoma.
Nonmetastatic Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma: The cancer is found only in the area where it started and has not spread to other parts of the body.
Metastatic Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma: The cancer has spread from where it started to other parts of the body.
Recurrent Soft Tissue Sarcoma: The cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the area where it started or in another part of the body.

This page was last updated on: September 21, 2009.