Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology Program

Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma

What is Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma?

Childhood soft tissue sarcoma is a disease in which cancerous cells begin growing in soft tissue somewhere in 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 different kinds of soft tissue sarcoma, but they are all relatively uncommon. The American Cancer Society estimates that about 8,700 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed in adults and children in the United States in 2001. Less than 10 percent of those cases are likely to be found in children.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the type of soft tissue sarcoma that most often occurs in children. It begins in muscles around the bone and can be found anywhere in the body.

The other types of soft tissue sarcoma in children are:

Fibrosarcoma -- begins in fibrous tissue in the arms and legs.
Neurofibrosarcoma -- begins in nerves near the surface of arms, legs, and trunk.
Leiomyosarcoma -- begins in muscles in the trunk.
Liposarcoma -- begins in fat in the arms and legs.
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.
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.
Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma -- begins in fibrous tissue in the legs.
Desmoid Tumor (Fibromatosis) -- is not cancer, but may be confused with a type of fibrosarcoma.

This page was last updated on: March 5, 2008.