Treatments for both soft-tissue
and bone sarcomas depend on the tumor’s location, size, type, and stage.
Treatments can include surgery, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.
Surgery
UT Southwestern Medical Center surgical
oncologists offer surgical options including:
- Excisional surgery: We remove the tumor as well as a minimal amount of
surrounding tissue to increase the likelihood that all affected tissue is
removed.
- Limb-sparing surgery: This involves removal of the tumor in an arm or leg
without amputation, so the use and appearance of the limb are saved.
The tissue and bone that are removed might be replaced with a graft using
tissue and bone taken from another part of the patient’s body, or with an
implant such as artificial bone.
- Amputation: In
an amputation, some or all of the leg or arm is removed. This surgery is
used when cancer has spread to most of the tissue in the limb and no other
option is available. Amputation is used less commonly to treat sarcomas in
the arms or legs now that limb-sparing surgery is available.
Radiation Therapy
Radiation is sometimes used before
surgery to shrink tumors or after surgery to kill remaining cancer cells. Our
radiation oncologists use state-of-the-art machines and computers to precisely deliver
targeted, high doses of radiation to sarcoma tumors.
Radiation techniques that might
be used for sarcomas include:
- Intensity-modulated radiation therapy: Delivers radiation to the
specific shape of the tumor, sparing surrounding tissue
- Image-guided radiation therapy: Uses computed tomography (CT)
scans and other imaging techniques to view the inside of the body while
delivering radiation therapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy drugs are given by mouth
or through the veins to kill rapidly dividing cells, including cancer cells.
Because these drugs travel through the bloodstream, they can reach all areas of
the body, making them effective for treating sarcomas that have spread, or
metastasized.
Chemotherapy
is sometimes used before surgery to shrink a large sarcoma. It can also be used
following surgery to kill off cancer cells that might have spread outside the
tumor.
Ongoing Care
UT Southwestern’s
Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer
Center also offers a range of
support services
to current and former sarcoma patients
and their families.
