Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Abstract

Overview The management of soft tissue sarcomas is driven by the anatomic site and histology of the primary and is increasingly affected by the specific genetics of the sarcoma. In this chapter, we focus on the principles of management of this group of over 50 cancer subtypes to highlight commonalities and differences from anatomical constraints of surgery to specifics of adjuvant radiation to identification of systemic therapeutics that are appropriate for each histology. We will discuss in this chapter the etiology, presentation, diagnosis, staging, and multidisciplinary management of patients with sarcomas of soft tissue. Surgery remains paramount to achieve cure for the vast majority of sarcomas. Radiation therapy is used for larger tumors in the appropriate clinical context. The evolution of increasingly sophisticated radiation techniques is highlighted in this chapter. As pertains to systemic therapy, this chapter is written at a time in which first‐line therapies for soft tissue sarcomas may change, raising anew some questions of adjuvant therapy that remain incompletely answered. Where appropriate, we attempt to link specific histologies or molecular changes to therapeutic suggestions, with the understanding and hope that novel agents will supplant the medications that are available but that have not materially affected outcomes for few diagnoses other than GIST in the past several years.