Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of sarcoma include:

• A lump that can be felt through the skin that may or may not be painful
• Bone pain
• A broken bone that happens unexpectedly, such as with a minor injury or no injury at all
• Abdominal pain
• Weight loss

Diagnosis

Tests and procedures used to diagnose sarcoma and determine its extent (stage) include:

• A physical exam.Your doctor will likely do a physical exam to better understand your symptoms and look for other clues that will help with your diagnosis.
• Imaging tests.Which imaging tests are right for you will depend on your situation. Some tests, such as X-rays, are better for seeing bone problems. Other tests, such as MRI, are better for seeing connective tissue problems. Other imaging tests might include ultrasound, CT, bone scans and positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
• Removing a sample of tissue for testing (biopsy).A biopsy is a procedure to remove a piece of suspicious tissue for lab testing. Sophisticated lab tests can determine whether the cells are cancerous and what kind of cancer they represent. Tests can also reveal information that’s helpful for choosing the best treatments.How a biopsy sample is collected depends on your particular situation. It could be removed with a needle passed through the skin or cut away during an operation. Sometimes a biopsy is done at the same time as surgery to remove the cancer.

Treatment

Sarcoma is usually treated with surgery to remove the cancer. Other treatments might be used before or after surgery. Which treatments are best for you will depend on the type of sarcoma, its location, how aggressive the cells are and whether cancer has spread to other parts of your body.

Treatment for sarcoma might involve:

• The goal of surgery for sarcoma is to remove all of the cancer cells. Sometimes it’s necessary to amputate an arm or leg to remove all of the cancer, but surgeons try to preserve limb function when possible. Sometimes all of the cancer can’t be removed without hurting important structures, such as nerves or organs. In these situations, the surgeons work to remove as much of the sarcoma as possible.

Chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses chemicals to kill cancer cells. Some types of sarcoma are more likely to respond to chemotherapy treatment than others.

Targeted therapy.

Targeted therapy is a drug treatment that uses medicines that attack specific weaknesses in cancer cells. Your doctor may have your sarcoma cells tested to see if they are likely to respond to targeted therapy drugs.

Immunotherapy.

Immunotherapy is a drug treatment that uses your immune system to fight cancer. Your body’s disease-fighting immune system may not attack your cancer because the cancer cells produce proteins that blind the immune system cells. Immunotherapy drugs work by interfering with that process.