Read article Screening for soft tissue sarcomas
This page tells you about screening for soft tissue sarcomas. You can find information about
Screening for soft tissue sarcomas
Screening means testing people for early stages of a disease before they have any symptoms. As soft tissue sarcomas are so rare and can occur in any part of the body, it is unlikely that a screening programme would ever be an effective way of finding sarcomas.
Some people are thought to be at a higher risk, such as those who have particular inherited conditions. Doctors are aware of these conditions. People with Li Fraumeni syndrome are screened for cancers regularly. If you have any of the genetic conditions that give a higher risk of developing sarcoma, you can talk to your doctor about checking for sarcomas.
People who have had radiotherapy are known to have a slightly increased risk of getting a sarcoma in the part of the body that was treated. Your specialist will be aware of this and keeping an eye out for symptoms. If you are at all worried, ask at one of your check ups.
You can view and print the quick guides for all the pages in the About soft tissue sarcoma cancer section.
Screening means looking for early signs of a particular disease in 'healthy' people who do not have any symptoms. Screening cannot prevent cancer but it can find some cancers as early as possible when the chance of cure is high. Before we can carry out screening for any type of cancer, doctors must have an accurate test to use. The test must be reliable in picking up cancers that are there. And it must not give false positive results in people who do not have cancer.
At the moment there is no reliable screening test for sarcoma. As soft tissue sarcomas are so rare and can occur in any part of the body it is unlikely that a screening programme would ever be an effective way of finding sarcoma. There are so many different types that it is likely that more than one test would be needed. Many people would also need to have unnecessary tests to find each case of sarcoma.
If screening were to be introduced for sarcoma, the test would need to be simple, quick and not too expensive. It is more cost effective to screen people who may have a higher risk of sarcoma, such as people who have particular inherited conditions.
Doctors can monitor people who may be at higher risk than average of developing a sarcoma. People with Li Fraumeni syndrome and neurofibromatosis are screened for cancers regularly. If you have any of the genetic conditions linked with sarcoma, you can talk to your doctor about regular checking for sarcomas.
People who have had radiotherapy are known to have a slightly increased risk of getting a sarcoma in the part of the body that was treated. Your specialist will be aware of this and keeping an eye out for symptoms. If you are at all worried, talk to your specialist at one of your check ups.
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