title: Staging soft tissue sarcoma: evolution and change.
abstract: Soft tissue sarcoma (STS) is an extremely heterogeneous group of rare tumors that share a putative mesenchymal cell origin. STS can occur in any soft tissue in the body, yet all share a common feature of primarily disseminating hematogenously, particularly to the lungs. Staging for STS is particularly useful in prognosis, design of effective multimodality treatment programs, and comparing treatment outcomes from different centers and different eras. The current iteration of AJCC STS staging includes Tumor, Grade, Node, and Metastasis with "a" indicating superficial and "b" indicating deep designations. Further opportunities to improve this process exist, particularly as molecular considerations become more apparent, and future evolution into an even more useful STS staging system can be anticipated.
authors.affiliation: The University of TexasMD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Dhanasekaran
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kotilingam
authors.forename: Dina Chelouche
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Lev
authors.forename: Alexander J F
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lazar
authors.forename: Raphael E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Pollock
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging / Q000379:methods*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D015996:Survival Rate
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor