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Bone and Soft Tissue Oncology

Patient and Family Education

Sarcoma

What are the Types of Sarcoma?

Bone Tumors

• Osteosarcomas (also known as osteogenic sarcomas) are tumors found in the cells that form bone.
• Ewing's family of tumors describes a class of diseases that develop from very primitive cells in the body. Ewing's family of tunors include:
  • Ewing's tumor bone
  • extraosseous Ewing's (tumor growing outside the bone)
  • primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET)
  • Askin's tumor (PNET of the chest wall)

  Although Ewing's is usually thought of as a bone tumor, it is increasingly seen in the soft tissues in the body as well.

Fat Tissue Tumors

• Liposarcomas are tumors that develop in fat tissue. They can occur anywhere in the body, but are most often found in the retroperitoneum (tissue at the back of the abdominal cavity).

• Leiomyosarcomas are tumors that develop from smooth muscle tissue. (Smooth muscle is the type of muscle over which your brain doesn't have conscious control such as the muscle fibers in the uterus or the walls of blood vessels.) They can be found anywhere in the body, but are usually detected in the uterus or gastrointestinal tract.
• Rhabdomyosarcomas are tumors that resemble developing skeletal muscle. Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common type of childhood soft tissue sarcoma. These tumors tend to grow most often in the arms and legs, but can also develop in the head or neck area, and in the urinary and reproductive organs.

• Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST) is a cancer of the cells that surround the nerves. MPNST is also called neurofibrosarcoma.
• Alveolar soft-part sarcomas are tumors that begin in the nerves to the muscles in the arms and legs. This sarcoma is a rare form of cancer most often found in young adults.

Blood and Lymph Vessel Tumors

• Kaposi's sarcoma is a cancer of the lining of the lymph nodes or blood vessels. It occurs most often in AIDS patients.
• Angiosarcomas are malignant tumors that may develop in either blood or lymphatic vessels.
• Hemangiopericytomas are tumors that begin in the blood vessels in the arms, legs, trunk, head and neck.

Joint Tissue Tumors

• Synovial Sarcomas are tumors made up of cells that resemble the cells in joints. ("Synovial cells" line the joints.) However, synovial sarcomas don't necessarily occur in joints. Synovial sarcomas can be found anywhere in the body, and are often diagnosed in young adults.

Fibrous Tissue Tumors

• Fibrosarcomas are tumors in the fibroblast-type cells, which are the cells that form scars and perform other important connective tissue functions.
• Desmoid Tumor is not strictly a sarcoma since it is not technically a malignancy. However, there is a risk that a Desmoid tumor may recur and become malignant.
• Malignant fibrous histiocytomas are tumors that begin in fibrous tissue in the legs. They are most commonly found in older adults.