Sarcoma, A Simple Guide To The Condition, Diagnosis, Treatment And Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

Sarcoma is a rare type of aggressive tumor that starts in the primitive tissues of the body.
These tissues attach, support and enclose other body structures.
The tissues are muscle, fat, bone, blood vessels, nerves, tendons and the lining of the joints.
Sarcoma can happen anywhere in the body, but the most frequent types happen in the abdomen and in the arms and legs.
Sarcomas normally start from soft tissue or bony sites on the body, giving rise to the main division into bony and soft tissue sarcomas.
There are more than 30 different subtypes of sarcomas mentioned.
These are comparatively rare cancers that consist of 1% of all malignancies.
Different subtypes of sarcoma involve patients from different age groups; no one particular age group is more often affected with all sarcoma subtypes.
Generally, cancer happens when cells form errors (mutations) in their DNA.
The errors make cells proliferate and multiply out of control.
The collection of abnormal cells develops into a tumor that can proliferate to attack nearby structures and extend to other parts of the body.
Factors that may increase the risk of sarcoma are:
1. Inherited syndromes.
A risk of soft tissue sarcoma can be inherited from the parents.
Genetic syndromes that increase the risk include hereditary retinoblastoma, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, familial adenomatous polyposis, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis and Werner syndrome.
Patients with hereditary diseases such as neurofibromatosis who have numerous benign swellings of nerve sheaths have a higher danger of one of these enlarged nerve sheaths turning cancerous.
2. Chemical exposure.
Being exposed to certain chemicals, such as herbicides, arsenic and dioxin, may increase the risk of soft tissue sarcomas.
3. Radiation exposure.
Previous radiation treatment for other cancers can increase the risk of soft tissue sarcomas.
Patients with prior radiotherapy have a slightly higher chance of developing a sarcoma within the previously radiated area.
A sarcoma may not cause any signs and symptoms in its early stages.
As the tumor proliferates, it may cause:
1. A visible lump or swelling
2. Pain, if a tumor presses on nerves or muscles
Many patients first see a doctor because of a lump or mass on the trunk, leg or arm.
The swelling may or may not be painful.
The sarcoma is diagnosed when a biopsy of a lump on the arm, leg or trunk is evaluated under a microscope
Once a sarcoma is diagnosed, other tests such as magnetic resonance image scanning (MRI) of the location of cancer to find out the extent of the cancer and if it is operable, computerized scans (CT) of the lungs and liver to find out if the cancer has spread, are normally done.
Treatment of Sarcoma
The treatment options for sarcoma will depend on the size, form and site of the tumor.
Surgery is a frequent treatment for soft tissue sarcoma.
Surgery normally requires removing the cancer and some healthy tissue surrounding it.
When soft tissue sarcoma involves the arms and legs, it may be require to amputate the involved arm or leg.
Doctors always attempt their best to prevent amputation.
One method to achieve this may be using chemotherapy and radiation to shrink the tumor before surgery
Radiation therapy requires treating cancer with high-powered beams of energy.
The doctor may indicate using radiation therapy before surgery to shrink a tumor
Radiation is also done after surgery to kill any cancer cells that have remained
Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that uses medicines to kill cancer cells.
Chemotherapy can be given by pill, through a vein .
Some forms of sarcoma react better to chemotherapy
Targeted drugs obstruct specific abnormal signals present in sarcoma cells that permit them to proliferate.
TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Sarcoma
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Sym

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: Mar 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370860821

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

Sarcoma,

A

Simple

Guide

To

The Condition,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2017 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Sarcoma, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Sarcoma)

This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Condition) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiolographical account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiolographical account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Conditions into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 amazon kindle books and 200 into Smashwords.com eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical conditions.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring you the latest information about a condition or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Sarcoma

What is Sarcoma?

Sarcoma is a rare type of aggressive tumor that starts in the primitive tissues of the body.

These tissues attach, support and enclose other body structures.

The tissues are muscle, fat, bone, blood vessels, nerves, tendons and the lining of the joints.

Many forms of sarcoma exist.

Some types are more prone to involve children, while others involve mostly adults.

Sarcoma can happen anywhere in the body, but the most frequent types happen in the abdomen and in the arms and legs.

Sarcomas normally start from soft tissue or bony sites on the body, giving rise to the main division into bony and soft tissue sarcomas.

There are more than 30 different subtypes of sarcomas mentioned.

These are comparatively rare cancers that consist of 1% of all malignancies.

Different subtypes of sarcoma involve patients from different age groups; no one particular age group is more often affected with all sarcoma subtypes.

What is the cause of Sarcoma?

Causes

Just like cancer, it is not known what causes sarcoma.

Generally, cancer happens when cells form errors (mutations) in their DNA.

The errors make cells proliferate and multiply out of control.

The collection of abnormal cells develops into a tumor that can proliferate to attack nearby structures and extend to other parts of the body.

The form of cell that forms the genetic mutation decides what form of sarcoma the patient have.

Some types of sarcoma are:

1. Alveolar soft part sarcoma

2. Angiosarcoma

3. Clear cell sarcoma

4. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans

5. Desmoplastic small round cell tumor

6. Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma

7. Epithelioid sarcoma

8. Extrarenal rhabdoid tumor

9. Fibrosarcoma

10. Gastrointestinal stromal tumor

11. Hemangiosarcoma

12. Infantile fibrosarcoma

13. Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor

14. Kaposi's sarcoma

15. Leiomyosarcoma

16. Liposarcoma

17. Lymphangiosarcoma

18. Malignant fibrous histiocytoma

19. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor

20. Myofibrosarcoma

21. Myxofibrosarcoma

22. Neurofibrosarcoma

23. Perivascular epitheliod cell tumor