What is Sarcoma Cancer? Â
A sarcoma is basically a cancer that is of the connective or supportive tissue, which are basically a bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels and soft tissue. This term is derived from the Greek word, which means ‘fleshy growth’. Sarcomas are also referred to Bone tumours but they belong to an entirely different category, due to their different experimental and infinitesimal distinctiveness and they are also treated another way. One of the most common childhoods bone cancers are known as Osteogenic sarcoma or osteosarcoma. In adults Soft tissue sarcomas are seen as being more common than would be usually found in children.Â
Both children and adults can develop a sarcoma, and it can start in any part of the body, such as the bone or soft tissue. About 60% begin in the arms or legs, 30% start in the trunk or abdomen, and 10% are in the head or neck. Sarcoma is rare in adults, accounting for about 1% of all adult cancers. However, sarcoma in general represents about 15% of all cancers in children.
What causes Sarcoma Cancer? Â
Sarcoma cancers are cancerous cells that form in soft tissues of the body. Soft tissues are tissues like muscles, tendons, ligaments, fat, joints and blood vessels. There is no actual cause of sarcoma that can be determined at this time. Like any other cancer, there is ongoing research to find out what exactly causes sarcoma cancers. Doctors and researchers are unsure as to what causes sarcoma cancer, but they believe that a few things might lead to the onset of sarcomas.
Sarcoma cancer is not a genetic disease. There is no genetic link between sarcoma cancer patients, like there is for breast cancer patients. However, sarcoma cancers are usually found in patients who have rare genetic diseases like Gardner syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, neurofibromatosis or retinoblastoma.
There is also a link to patients who have had radiation therapy for other cancers and sarcoma cancers. The sarcoma will show up between five and 10 years after the radiation therapy treatments for another cancer in remission.
Sarcoma is thought to only affect a person who is older. Even though there is a higher probability of developing a sarcoma cancer after turning 30 years old, there is no relation to the age of a person and the development of a sarcoma cancer. There is also no link between sarcoma cancers and bodily injuries. An injury might expose a sarcoma cancer that might have been over looked, but there is no link to the number of injuries a person has and the development of sarcoma cancers.
Symptoms of Sarcoma Cancer: Â
Although each individual experiences symptoms differently, sarcomas do have some common characteristics. Symptoms often don’t show up until the disease is advanced, so you should see your doctor if you notice any of the following symptoms:
- A new lump or bump anywhere on your body
- Increasing abdominal pain
- Blood in your stool or vomit (when blood appears in your stool, it may not look red but very dark, almost black)
- Pain in the bone
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Anemia
Types of Sarcoma Cancer: Â
Kaposi’s sarcoma cancer is the presence of malignant cells in the tissues under the skin that line the mouth, nose or anus. The first sign of Kaposi’s sarcoma is development of small growths on the skin, usually red, brown or purple in color. A persistent cough or abdominal pain may also indicate its presence. If you are concerned about possible Kaposi’s cancer symptoms, you should consult a doctor for further consultation.
Sarcomas can develop in any part of the body, but they arise mostly in the feet, legs, and arms. Forty percent of cases occur in the abdomen, chest, shoulders, hips, and back, while the remaining 10% appear around the neck and head. There are close to 100 varieties of sarcoma, all of which can be categorized according to the type of cells that they affect.
- Bone sarcomas– The most common type of bone tumor is known as an osteosarcoma and arises in the tissues of growing bones. Highly aggressive, it affects primarily teenagers and young adults. Although it can develop in bones in any part of the body, osteosarcoma is found most often in the knee and upper arm regions. Ewing’s Sarcoma is a rare type of bone tumor that grows in the immature nerve cells of bone marrow surrounding the chest wall, pelvis, and vertebrae.
- Muscle tissue sarcomas– Most muscles fall into two groups – skeletal and smooth muscles. Skeletal muscles move bones and are within our control. Smooth muscles line organs and blood vessels and cannot be consciously controlled.Rhabdomyosarcomas are tumors found in growing skeletal muscles in the legs, arms, neck, and head, as well as in the urinary and reproductive organs. More than 50% of rhabdomyosarsarcoma cases attack children under ten.Leiomyosarcomas are smooth muscle sarcomas that affect adults and grow in the gastrointestinal tract, uterus, and other blood vessel linings.
- Blood and lymph vessel sarcomas– Hemangiosarcomas strike adults in the blood vessels of the trunk, head, and legs.Infantile hemangiopericytomas develop in the same blood vessels, but affect children below four. Kaposi’s sarcoma is prevalent in people with immune deficiency diseases such as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Lymph vessel sarcomas are known as lymphangiosarcomas. These malignant tumors grow in the arms and sometimes appear as side effects of radiation therapy for cancer patients.
- Nerve tissue sarcomas– Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), otherwise known as neurofibrosarcoma, is a tumor in the peripheral nerves of the trunk, arms, or legs. Alveolar soft-part sarcomas are rare and affect young adults in the muscle nerves of the legs and arms.
- Fat tissue sarcomas– Liposarcomas appear when cancer cells grow in the body’s fatty tissues. They can appear anywhere in the body, but usually affect the abdominal area, such as the soft tissues located in the back of the abdominal cavity.
- Joint tissue sarcomas– Tissues around the joints of the body, especially the knees and ankles, are susceptible to synovial sarcoma, a cancer occurring in adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15 and 40. Synovial sarcoma spreads quickly to other parts of the body through lymph and blood circulation.
- Fibrous tissue sarcomas– Fibrosarcomas exist in cells that help develop scars around the trunk, arms, or legs. Incidences of this cancer appear in adults between the ages of 30 and 40. Malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH) occur in the fibrous tissues of the legs of older people. Dermatofibrosarcomas are cancer cells beneath the surface of the skin of the limbs and trunk.
Sarcomas are silent predators that display no symptoms or warning signs during the initial stages. Difficult to detect at the beginning, the tumors slowly develop into noticeable but painless lumps or swelling. Continued growth of the cancer cells places pressure on nearby nerves and muscles, eventually causing pain and discomfort. If you discover lumps or swelling anywhere on your body, or if you experience painful symptoms of sarcoma, such as blood in the stool or persistent abdominal pain, have yourself examined by a medical specialist immediately.
Sarcoma cancer Treatment: Â
Cancer treatments can be divided into local and systemic treatments. Surgery and radiotherapy are local treatments. They treat just one area of the body. Systemic treatments are carried in the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells wherever they are in the body, not just at the original tumour site. Chemotherapy and biological therapies are systemic treatments.
Surgery:
Surgery is a standard treatment option for sarcoma. Depending on the location of the sarcoma, limb-sparing surgery is usually performed to remove the tumor as well as some surrounding healthy tissue. In some cases, amputation of the arm or leg may be required in order to remove all of the cancer.
Radiation Therapy:
Radiotherapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells. You may have radiotherapy before or after surgery, or on its own as your main treatment. Treatment before surgery is called neo-adjuvant treatment. Your specialist tries to shrink the tumour so that it is easier to remove. If the treatment is successful, you may be able to have a smaller operation than you otherwise would have. Doctors call this ‘down-staging’ the disease.
Chemotherapy:
Depending on the sarcoma, chemotherapy may be given before or after surgery and may be combined with radiation therapy. There are some sarcomas that respond very well to chemotherapy and others that do not.
Chemotherapy means having anti-cancer drugs. For sarcoma, chemotherapy is mostly used to treat:
- Ewing’s sarcomas
- Embryonal or alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma
- Children or young adults with sarcoma
- Sarcomas that have spread
Biological Therapy:
For gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs), you may have a biological therapy drug called called imatinib (Glivec) before or after surgery. Imatinib is a type of drug known as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Imatinib works by blocking signals within cancer cells and stopping a series of chemical reactions that make the cells grow and divide. Some studies have shown that imatinib can be very effective in stopping gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) from growing.
Stage Information:
Once adult soft tissue sarcoma is found, more tests will be done to find out if cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This testing is called staging. A doctor needs to know the stage of the disease to plan treatment. Unlike most other cancers, the size of a soft tissue sarcoma is not as important as how the cancer cells look under a microscope. The more different the cancer cells look from normal cells, the higher the stage. The following stages are used for adult soft tissue sarcoma:
Stage IA
The cancer cells look either very much like or somewhat different from normal cells (well-differentiated or moderately well-differentiated). The cancer is either near the surface or deep and is less than 5 centimeters in size (about 2 inches), but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body (lymph nodes are small bean-shaped structures that are found throughout the body; they produce and store infection-fighting cells).
Stage IB
The cancer cells look either very much like or somewhat different from normal cells (well-differentiated or moderately well-differentiated). The cancer is near the surface and more than 5 centimeters in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage IIA
The cancer cells look either very much like or somewhat different from normal cells (well-differentiated or moderately well-differentiated). The cancer is deep and more than 5 centimeters in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage IIC
The cancer cells look very different from normal cells (poorly differentiated or undifferentiated). The cancer is near the surface and is more than 5 centimeters in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage III
The cancer cells look very different from normal cells (poorly differentiated or undifferentiated). The cancer is deep and is more than 5 centimeters in size, but it has not spread to lymph nodes or other parts of the body.
Stage IV
The cancer may have spread to lymph nodes in the area or may have spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, head, or neck.
What is the Cost of Sarcoma cancer treatment surgery in India?
At the top rated, accredited, specialty hospital and clinical facilities in the cosmopolitan Indian metro cities the cost of sarcoma cancer treatment surgery procedures is approximately 75% cheaper than the cost of these operative procedures in USA, UK, Europe, Canada and Australia. India is considered as the prime destination for patients looking for low cost treatment options.
