Roman Groisberg, MD, Medical Oncologist and Director of the Sarcoma Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey/RWJBarnabas Health, discusses the difficulties of diagnosing sarcomas.
Sarcomas are rare cancers that develop in the bones and soft tissues, including fat, muscles, blood vessels, nerves, deep skin tissues and fibrous tissues. According to the National Cancer Institute, about 12,000 cases of soft tissue sarcomas and 3,000 cases of bone sarcomas are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Bone sarcomas are more common among children while soft tissue sarcomas are more common in adults.
As Dr. Groisberg explains, due to the rare nature of sarcomas and the vast number of subtypes, they are particularly hard to diagnose. Additionally, there are commonly misdiagnosed. For instance, pathologists may diagnose sarcomas as spindle cell neoplasms. Dr. Groisberg cautions oncologists that not all patients who have been diagnosed with spindle cell neoplasms have a sarcoma, though it is something to consider. Should an oncologist group suspect sarcoma, they would most likely send out the pathology report to a high volume pathology group to potentially narrow down the diagnosis to a subgroup of sarcoma. Often this is done by looking for markers of translocation which can point to a specific sarcoma. As Dr. Groisberg explains, being able to identify the specific subtype of sarcoma quickly is important as it has treatment and prognostic implications.
To learn more about sarcomas and other rare cancers, visit checkrare.com/cancers.