Sarcoma

Sarcomas are malignant neoplasms originating from transformed cells of mesenchymal origin and are different from carcinomas that are malignant neoplasms originating from epithelial cells. The word “sarcoma” is derived from the Greek word sarcoma meaning “fleshy outgrowth,” and present as either a bone sarcoma or a soft tissue sarcoma. Malignant primary bone sarcomas constitute 0.2% of all malignancies in adults and approximately 5% of childhood malignancies, for which data were obtained in one large series. Cancer registry data with histological stratification indicate that osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor, accounting for approximately 35% of all cases, followed by chondro sarcoma (25%), Ewing sarcoma (16%), and chordoma (8%) . Soft tissue sarcomas constitute fewer than 1% of all malignancies, 50 per million population . According to the results of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results study (http://seer.cancer.gov/data/), which included 26,758 cases from 1978 to 2001, leiomyosarcoma was the most common sarcoma, accounting for 23.9% of all cases. Other major histological types included malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH; 17.1%), liposarcoma(11.5%)dermatofibrosarcoma (10.5%), rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS; 4.6%), and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST; 4.0%) . Although MFH was the second most common sarcoma in this series, the diagnostic term MFH is now replaced for pleomorphic sarcomas without defined differentiation. Therefore, the incidence rates of MFH will be updated in future studies based on changes in diagnostic criteria that parallel advancements in the understanding of MFH etiology

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Last date updated on April, 2024