Malignant Soft tissue tumour, also known as soft tissue sarcoma, is an uncommon but serious type of cancer that can develop in the connective tissues of your body. When diagnosed with it, doctors often recommend surgery as the first line of treatment to make sure the cancer doesn’t return. However, is it actually the best treatment method for your soft tissue tumour?

This article will answer your question. Going through it, you will learn about soft tissue tumours, when surgery is needed, its benefits, different types, and much more. 

What is a Soft Tissue Tumour?

Malignant Soft tissue tumour, or soft tissue sarcoma, is a group of over 60 types of tumours that can grow anywhere in your body in tissues, including muscle, blood vessels, fat, tendons, and nerves. This tumour often develops in the patient’s arms and legs and appears as a painful lump under the skin as a first symptom. 

When is Surgery Used for Soft Tissue Tumour?

Surgery is often the primary soft tissue sarcoma treatment, especially when the tumour is localised and has not spread to other parts of the body. The goal of surgery is to remove the tumour entirely, but the surgical procedure can also be performed as a palliative treatment when cancer spreads to surrounding healthy tissue or distant body parts. 

Usually, healthcare professionals recommend surgery for soft tissue tumours when:

• The tumour is localised and operable.
• The patient’s overall health allows for surgery.
• The tumour is not located near critical structures where surgery might pose significant risks.
• The tumour is low grade (progresses slowly)
• The tumour is in your extremities or near your trunk surface
• There is a high chance of achieving clear margins (no cancer cells at the edge of the removed tissue).

Also, sometimes doctors consider using chemotherapy or radiation therapy before or after surgery to shrink the tumour or destroy the remaining cancer cells, respectively.

Can Sarcoma be Actually Cured with Surgery?

Surgery is often considered the gold standard for treating soft tissue sarcoma. But remember that its suitability depends on several factors, including the size, location, and type of tumour, as well as the patient’s overall health.

If you are diagnosed with low-grade soft tissue sarcomas contained in a single tumour, surgery might alone help cure the ailment. People with such soft tissue tumours have around 81% of a 5-year relative survival years. 

Let’s read further to discover some exceptional benefits of choosing surgery to treat soft tissue tumours:

• Completely removes the tumour: Surgery makes it possible to physically remove the soft tissue tumour, which can be particularly effective when the sarcoma is localised and hasn’t spread to surrounding tissues or distant body parts.
• Provides immediate results: Unlike other treatments that may take time to shrink or manage the tumour, surgery provides immediate results by removing the mass.
• Prevent tumour from spreading: By removing the tumour, surgery can help prevent the cancer from spreading to other parts of the body. However, if still cancer cells remain in your body, you can get them removed by radiation or chemotherapy.
• Help preserve bodily function: Now that surgical techniques have advanced, surgeons are able to successfully remove the tumour while preserving as much function of the affected area as possible.
• Combination with other treatments: Your healthcare professional can suggest soft tissue sarcoma treatment, combining surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy to reduce the chances of tumour recurrence.

Different Types of Soft Tissue Sarcoma Surgery

You can get your soft tissue sarcoma cured via different surgical approaches. Your doctor will first figure out your tumour’s size, location, and overall medical condition to determine the optimal soft tissue tumour surgical procedure. Usually, medical experts perform the following surgeries to treat soft tissue sarcomas:

Types of Soft Tissue Sarcoma Surgery
Mohs micrographic surgery | A minimally invasive surgical procedure, it involves a surgeon cutting the top layer of your skin and examining it for cancer cells. They continue cutting the skin layers until they no longer see cancer cells or signs.
Wide local excision | Wide local or soft tissue tumour excision involves removing the tumour along with at least 1 cm of healthy tissue around it to ensure all cancer cells are removed.
Lymphadenectomy | It’s a surgical procedure in which a surgeon removes lymph nodes to examine them under a microscope for cancer.
Limb-sparing surgery | If having sarcomas in your arms or legs, your healthcare provider will recommend undergoing limb-sparing surgery. This surgical procedure will remove the tumour while preserving as much of your limb’s function as possible. 
Amputation | In rare cases where the tumour can’t be removed with a wide local excision or limb-sparing surgery, amputation might be performed to remove the entire cancerous arm or leg.

What Can You Expect During Soft Tissue Tumour Surgery Recovery?

The length of recovery from soft tissue tumour treatment varies depending on the extent of your surgery, the tumour’s location, and your overall health. Generally, you can expect your skin to heal approximately 2 weeks after undergoing Mohs micrographic surgery. However, it can take about 6 to 8 weeks for swelling to heal after amputation.

How fast you can recover from your soft tissue tumour surgery depends on your approach and consistency to pain management, wound care, physical therapy, and follow-up care.

What are the Potential Risks of Soft Tissue Tumour Surgery?

No surgery is free of risks, and soft tissue tumour surgery is no exception. However, it’s not always the case. You might face complications like:

• Infection
• Heavy bleeding
• Sepsis
• Reaction to anaesthesia
• Damage to organs
• Blood clots in a deep vein or your lungs

All-in-All

Surgery is a key treatment option for soft tissue sarcoma as it offers the potential for complete tumour removal and a chance at a cure. However, it’s not free of risks and, thus, optimal for all cases. Your cardiology specialist at Medanta can diagnose soft tissue tumours and help determine whether surgery is the best recourse to cure and, if yes, what type of surgery you should undergo.