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  1. Basics
  2. Symptoms
  3. Diagnosis
  4. Treatment
  5. Prevention
  6. Knowledge Center

Our Approach

Center features one of the few medical teams in the world devoted to soft-tissue sarcomas. Our experts customize your care to deliver the most successful treatment, while focusing on your quality of life.

We see more sarcoma patients in a day than many cancer centers do in a year. This gives us a level of expertise and experience that can make a difference in your outcome.

Diagnosis of sarcomas can be challenging, but accurate diagnosis is essential to successful treatment. In fact, having an inaccurate or unsuccessful biopsy can be harmful. Our pathologists are dedicated to sarcoma, and they use the latest, most-sophisticated tests to pinpoint the type and extent of the cancer.

Comprehensive Care, Innovative Research

Using a team approach that brings together specialists from many areas, we offer everything you need for diagnosis and treatment in one location. Our treatments draw upon the latest technology to save limbs, as well as function and appearance.

As one of the world's leading sarcoma research centers, we helped pioneer many advancements used around the world, including:

  • New ways to combine therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, to be more successful
  • Advanced chemotherapy agents and novel delivery methods that have less impact on the body
  • Limb-sparing surgery that can help preserve arms and legs in many cases
  • Medicines to fight cancer on a molecular level
  • Ways to deliver more intense chemotherapy

Signs of sarcoma vary from person to person. Many times sarcoma does not have symptoms in the early stages. Only about half of soft-tissue sarcomas are found in the early stages before they spread.

The location of the sarcoma makes a difference in the symptoms. For instance if they start:

  • On the arms or legs, you may notice a lump that grows over a period of weeks to months. It may hurt, but it usually doesn’t.
  • In the retroperitoneum (the back wall inside the abdomen), they may cause problems that have symptoms, such as pain. Tumors may cause blockage or bleeding of the stomach or bowels. They may grow large enough for the tumor to be felt in the abdomen.

If you have any of the following problems, talk to your doctor:

  • A new lump or a lump that is growing anywhere on your body
  • Abdominal pain that is getting worse
  • Blood in your stool or vomit
  • Black, tarry stools (this may mean there is internal bleeding)

These symptoms do not always mean you have sarcoma. However, it is important to discuss any symptoms with your doctor, since they may also signal other health problems.

Team of specialized surgeons and pathologists is one of the most experienced and skilled in the nation in diagnosing sarcomas. In fact, we are one of the few centers in the world with specialized doctors who focus on diagnosing only sarcomas.

We have the latest methods and technology to be sure you get the most accurate diagnosis possible. This can make a difference in the success of your treatment.

Accurate Diagnosis is Essential

Since sarcomas are complex and can develop in so many places in the body, they can be difficult to diagnose. However, it's important to have an accurate diagnosis of the type and extent of the sarcoma before you are treated.

Getting the wrong diagnosis may actually be harmful and make therapy have less chance for success. A biopsy that is not done correctly can cause the cancer to spread and make your treatment more difficult. It is best for the surgeon who does the biopsy to also remove the tumor.

If at all possible, your first biopsy should be at the cancer center where you will receive treatment. Try to go to a cancer center that sees a large number of sarcoma patients and has a specialized sarcoma team that includes specialized pathologists.  

If you have symptoms that may signal sarcoma, your doctor will examine you and ask you questions about your health and your family medical history.

Our Treatment Approach

It is committed to providing you with the most-advanced treatments for sarcoma with the least impact on your body. Your sarcoma treatment is customized specifically for you by one of the worlds' foremost teams of experts.

Because sarcoma is rare, most oncologists treat few if any patients in their careers. Statistics show that sarcoma patients have better outcomes when they are treated at large comprehensive cancer centers where specialized oncologists have more experience with the disease. Center treats more sarcoma patients than any other cancer center, which translates to a remarkable level of experience and expertise.

Our surgeons are among the most skilled in the world in surgery for sarcoma. They use the latest techniques, including limb-sparing surgeries, which we helped pioneer. Usually patients are able to avoid the loss of an arm or leg.

We're making great strides in treating sarcomas. For instance, we were instrumental in the pivotal clinical trial for Gleevec® (imatinib) for GIST (gastrointestinal stromal tumors), and we helped discover the activity of Gemzar® (gemcitabine) in soft-tissue sarcomas. We helped developed concurrent chemo and radiation regimens to improve chance of successful treatment in certain types of sarcoma.

Our Sarcoma Treatments

Sarcomas usually are treated with a combination of therapies that may include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. If you are diagnosed with sarcoma, your doctor will discuss the best options to treat it. This depends on several factors, including:

  • The location and type of sarcoma
  • If the cancer has spread
  • Possible impact on your body
  • Your general health

Sarcoma Screening

Screening tests may be able to find certain types of cancer if a person is at risk but does not have symptoms. Unfortunately, no standardized screening tests have been shown to improve sarcoma outcomes.

If someone in your family has had a sarcoma or other type of cancer when he or she was young, or if certain diseases (see Risk Factors) run in your family, you should talk to your doctor about genetic testing.

Sarcoma Risk Factors

Anything that increases your chance of getting cancer is a risk factor. For sarcoma, risk factors include:

  • Von Recklinghausen disease
  • Li-Fraumeni syndrome
  • Gardner syndrome
  • Inherited retinoblastoma
  • Werner syndrome
  • Gorlin syndrome
  • Tuberous sclerosis

Damage or removal of lymph nodes during previous cancer treatments.

Exposure to vinyl chloride, a chemical used in making plastics.

Previous radiation treatment for another cancer.

Not everyone with risk factors gets sarcoma. However, if you have risk factors, it’s a good idea to discuss them with your health care provider.

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Contact Us

TATA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
Dr. E Borges Road, Parel, Mumbai - 400 012 India
Phone: +91-22- 24177000, 24177300, 24161413
Fax: +91-22-24146937
E-mail : msoffice@tmc.gov.in(for patient care and queries)/cash@tmc.gov.in(for accounts related)/fundraising@tmc.gov.in (for donors and donation related)/registrar@tmc.gov.in(for education and training)/hrd@tmc.gov.in(for administrative - HRD matters) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

1136858 (505)