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Your soft tissues connect, support or surround other tissues. Examples include your muscles, tendons, fat and blood vessels. Soft tissue sarcoma is a cancer of these soft tissues. There are many kinds, based on the type of tissue they started in. Sometimes they spread and can press on nerves and organs, causing problems such as pain or trouble breathing.
No one knows exactly what causes these cancers. They are not common, but you have a higher risk if you have been exposed to certain chemicals, had radiation therapy or have certain genetic diseases.
To diagnose soft tissue sarcomas, doctors must remove and look at piece of the tumor under a microscope. Treatments include surgery to remove the tumor, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or a combination.
National Cancer Institute
Malignant (cancerous) tumors that develop in soft tissue are called sarcomas, a term that comes from a Greek word meaning "fleshy growth." In this context, the term soft tissue refers to tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body. Soft tissue includes muscles, tendons (bands of fiber that connect muscles to bones), fibrous tissues, fat, blood vessels, nerves, and synovial tissues (tissues around joints). There are many different kinds of soft tissue sarcomas. They are grouped together because they share certain microscopic characteristics, produce similar symptoms, and are generally treated in similar ways. (Bone tumors, also known as osteosarcomas, are also called sarcomas, but are in a separate category because they have different clinical and microscopic characteristics and are treated differently.) Sarcomas can invade surrounding tissue and can metastasize (spread) to other organs of the body, forming secondary tumors. The cells of secondary tumors are similar to those of the primary (original) cancer. Secondary tumors are referred to as "metastatic soft tissue sarcoma" because they are part of the same cancer and are not a new disease. Some tumors of the soft tissue are benign (noncancerous). These tumors do not spread and are rarely life-threatening. However, benign tumors can crowd nearby organs and cause symptoms or interfere with normal body functions.
NCI: Soft Tissue Sarcoma - Gateway for information about soft tissue sarcomas. Includes treatments, literature, research, definition, clinical trials, statistics, and causes.
Adult Soft Tissue Sarcoma - Provides cellular, stage, treatment, and recurrent information about this cancer in adults.
Childhood Soft Tissue Sarcoma - Treatment and general information concerning metastic, non-metastic, and recurrent disease.
START: Soft Tissue Sarcomas - Oncoloy in Europe provides information about treatment, pathology, biology, diagnosis, staging, prognosis, and secondary tumors.
Fairview-University Blood and Marrow Transplant Services - University of Minnesota physicians develop new blood and marrow transplant (bone marrow transplant)(bmt) treatments for metabolic disorders, anemias and bone and soft tissue cancers(myelomas, lymphomas, sarcomas).
Vaccine Associated Feline Sarcoma Task Force - Comprehensive information on feline vaccines with benefits and risks, such as the increased incidence of soft tissue sarcomas occurring at vaccine sites.
Soft tissue sarcoma people organization - Riferimento per i malati di sarcoma dei tessuti molli. Tratta la diagnostiche, suggerisce i centri di cura, offre supporto psicologico, organizza la raccolta di fondi. Sezione sull'ipertermia, terapia principale in questi casi. Anche in lingua inglese.