Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Soft tissue sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of malignant neoplasms of mesenchymal origin. They account for approximately 1% of all cancer diagnoses and 7% of pediatric malignancies (1,2). Just over half of these patients eventually succumb as a result of the disease. Soft tissue sarcomas typically present as asymptomatic large masses within the retroperitoneum or the proximal lower limbs but can also affect other sites of the body. In adults, the most common histologic origins are liposarcomas (21%), malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFHs) (20%), leiomyosarcomas (20%), fibrosarcomas (11%), and tendosynovial sarcomas (10%) (3). In children, rhabdomyosarcoma comprise approximately 70% of the soft tissue sarcomas (3). Despite this highly variable histopathologic origin, the three negative predictive factors at the time of initial diagnosis for disease-free survival are primary site in the superficial trunk or in the limbs, high tumor grade, and large tumor size, rather than the histologic origin (4).