Sarcoma

The protocol for your sarcoma treatment will depend on the type of sarcoma, location, age, overall health, and comfort levels. For many cases, the treatment plan can consist of a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

Surgery

Surgery is often required to remove cancerous tumors. Surgeons will typically aim to resect the entire tumor with a margin of healthy tissue to avoid local recurrence.

Surgical situations for sarcomas can include:

• Limb-sparing surgery can nearly always be performed to preserve arm or leg function
• Reconstructive surgery may be required during or after cancer removal to restore the appearance and functionality of the affected area

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to kill or control the growth of cancer cells. At NewYork-Presbyterian, a genetic analysis of your tumor is performed in order to match you with the drugs that will target the pathways contributing to cancer's growth.

Chemotherapy is typically administered in two ways:

• Infusion therapies - Chemotherapy drugs are administered through an IV in NewYork-Presbyterian's modern infusion suites
• Oral medications - People with certain sarcomas can take anticancer drugs in pill form, such as pazopanib, imatinib, sunitinib, and regorafenib

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy delivers targeted radiation beams directly to the tumor, sparing nearby healthy tissue. It is often used with chemotherapy and before or after surgery as a sarcoma treatment.

NewYork-Presbyterian offers the following forms of radiation therapy:

• External radiation treatments - Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and other forms of external radiation can deliver highly-focused radiation beams shaped to the contours of your tumor, sparing nearby healthy tissues and reducing your risk of side effects
• Radiation during surgery - Large doses of radiation are administered after the tumor is removed, before the wound is closed
• Internal radiation or brachytherapy - Small pellets (or seeds) of radioactive material are placed in or near cancer using thin catheters (tubes). The pellets deliver high doses of radiation. This treatment can happen over minutes or over days.

Clinical trials for sarcoma

Clinical trials evaluate new approaches to caring for people with soft tissue sarcomas. Many of these studies evaluate targeted therapies and immunotherapies—treatments that boost the immune system's power to find and destroy sarcoma cells. Your doctor will inform you if you are eligible to participate in a promising new therapy clinical trial.