Sarcoma—Clinical Updates

Dear Colleagues,

Sarcoma is an uncommon and heterogeneous group of cancers arising from connective tissues such as bone, muscle, and fat. In most cases, the etiology of sarcoma is unclear; however, family history and exposure to chemicals or radiation may increase risk. Sarcomas affect people of all ages (childhood to old age), can afflict virtually any body part, and often present with large tumors and late-stage disease.

Current diagnostic methods for sarcoma include a combination of clinical evaluation, imaging studies, and histopathological examination of tissue samples obtained through biopsy. Treatment strategies depend on factors such as tumor size, location, histological subtype, stage of disease, and other patient-specific considerations. Wide surgical resection is the mainstay of treatment but often has significant functional implications. Adjuvant therapy may include radiation and/or chemotherapy depending on the specific histologic subtype; however, there are many tumors for which no effective therapies yet exist. Furthermore, our ability to effectively manage metastatic sarcoma remains extremely limited.

Because of the rarity of these tumors and the wide variety of histologic subtypes, sarcoma has historically been an elusive entity to research. As a result, there have been few clinical advancements in the treatment of sarcoma in the last three decades. However, advanced scientific techniques, improvement in collaborative research, and a focus on histologic-specific investigation has led to exciting recent discoveries, paving the way for improved diagnosis and prognostication and the development of novel therapeutics such as targeted molecular therapies and immunotherapies. However, more work is still required to understand the patients and tumors for which these existing therapies most benefit and how best to further investigate and expand these types of therapeutics to improve outcomes for broader populations of sarcoma patients.

The aim of this Special Issue is to highlight research that improves our understanding of sarcoma biology and prognostication, identify novel biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets, and investigate treatment strategies that improve oncologic and/or functional outcomes. 

Dr. Julia Visgauss
Guest Editor

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• sarcoma
• osteosarcoma
• Ewing’s sarcoma
• chondrosarcoma
• soft tissue sarcoma
• undifferentiated pleo-morphic sarcoma
• liposarcoma
• leiomyosarcoma
• rhabdomyosarcoma
• metastatic sarcoma
• targeted molec-ular therapy
• immunotherapy
• orthopedic oncology