Soft tissue sarcoma is better described as a family of related diseases, rather than as a single disease, since there are over 50 different types. The specific types of sarcoma are typically named according to the normal tissue cells that they most closely resemble, in contrast to most other cancer types which are named according to the cells where the cancer originated. Below are a few of the most common types of sarcomas.
- Angiosarcoma
- Resembling blood or lymph vessels
- Desmoid tumour or deep fibromatosis
- Resembling fibroblasts, the most common type of cells found in connective tissue
- Ewing’s sarcoma
- No resemblance to normal tissue, thought to be a tumour of stem cells
- Fibrosarcoma
- Resembling fibroblasts, much like deep fibromatosis
- Gastrointestinal stromal tumour
- Resembling cells of the digestive tract
- Kaposi sarcoma
- Resembling blood vessels
- Leiomyosarcoma
- Resembling smooth muscle
- Liposarcoma
- Resembling fat tissue
- Myxofibrosarcoma
- Resembling connective tissue
- Neurofibrosarcoma
- Resembling the cells which wrap and protect nerve endings
- Rhabdomyosarcoma
- Resembling skeletal muscle
- Synovial sarcoma
- No resemblance to normal tissue, thought to be a tumour of stem cells
Information taken from Cancer.net.
