WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF SARCOMA?

There are 2 " (T)" stages, Primary Tumor

T1 means the tumour is smaller than 5cm across at its widest
T2 means the tumour is at least 5cm across in any direction

There are 3 " (N)" stages, Regional Lymph Nodes

N1 means there are cancer cells in at least 1 lymph node
N0 means no lymph nodes have been found that contain cancer cells
NX regional lymph nodes cannot be assessed

There are 2 "(M)" stages, Distant Metastasis

M0 means there are no signs of cancer spread
M1 means that cancer spread has been found.

There are 4 "G" grades, Histopathologic Grade (information obtained from a pathology report)

G1 - Well differentiated Low Grade
G2 - Moderately differentiated Low Grade
G3 - Poorly differentiated High Grade
G4 - Undifferentiated High Grade (Ewing's sarcoma is classified as G4.)

The number stages

There are 4 major number stages. But stage 1 is divided into 2 subgroups. And stage 2 is divided into 3 subgroups. The number stages of soft tissue sarcoma are:

Stage 1A the tumour is low grade, small, superficial or deep with no sign of spread
Stage 1B the tumour is defined as low grade, large and superficial with no sign of spread
Stage 2A the tumour is low grade, large and deep
Stage 2B the tumour is high grade, small, superficial or deep
Stage 2C the tumour is high grade, large, and superficial
Stage III is high grade, large and deep
Stage IV means the tumour has spread to lymph nodes or any other organs

Recurrence means a soft tissue sarcoma has come back after it was first treated.

As with many cancers, the treatment options are surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Surgery is most often used with chemotherapy. You may be given radiotherapy after surgery for some types of sarcoma. Your treatment will be planned taking into account:

The type of sarcoma you have
How far your cancer has grown or spread (the ' stage')
Your general health
Your age and level of fitness

Cancer treatments can be divided into local and systemic treatments. Surgery and radiotherapy are local treatments. They treat just one part of the body. Systemic treatments act on cancer cells wherever they are in the body, not just at the primary site. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment.