Soft tissue sarcoma statistics
Cases
4,600 new cases of soft tissue sarcoma, 2017-19, England.
Survival
45% survive soft tissue sarcoma for 10 or more years, 1996-2000, England.
- There are around 4,600 new soft tissue sarcoma cases in England every year, that's around 13 every day (2019, 2021-2022).
- In females in England, there are around 2,200 new soft tissue sarcoma cases every year (2019, 2021-2022).
- In males in England, there are around 2,400 new soft tissue sarcoma cases every year (2019, 2021-2022).
- Incidence rates for soft tissue sarcoma in the England are highest in people aged 85-89 (2019, 2021-2022).
- Each year a third (33%) of all new soft tissue sarcoma cases in England are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over (2019, 2021-2022).
- Over the last decade, soft tissue sarcoma incidence rates have increased by 7% in England. Rates in females have remained stable, and rates in males have increased by around a tenth (11%) (2013-2022).
- Most soft tissue sarcomas occur in the limbs.
- An estimated 11,700 people who had previously been diagnosed with connective and soft tissue sarcoma were alive in the UK at the end of 2010.
- More than two-thirds (68%) of people diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in England survive their disease for five years or more (2016)
- For soft tissue cancer, like other cancer sites, survival trends reflect a combination of changes in treatment and stage distribution. These factors themselves can vary by age, sex and deprivation.
- Further information on treatments for cancer can be found here.
- Further survival statistics can be found here.
- A person’s risk of developing cancer depends on many factors, including age, genetics, and exposure to risk factors (including some potentially avoidable lifestyle factors).
- 100% of Kaposi sarcoma cases in the UK are preventable.
Soft tissue sarcoma diagnosis
See our Early Diagnosis Data Hub; for statistics on routes to diagnosis and screening uptake/coverage (for relevant cancer types)
For the most up-to-date statistics on early diagnosis and other metrics see our COVID and cancer key stats publications
Soft tissue sarcoma treatment
See our Treatment Data Hub which gathers information and statistics across a number of cancer treatment measures, including proportions of treatments given over time and detailed data on radiotherapy delivery. You can also ”view overviews of many national cancer site audits, split by site and country.
Statistics by cancer type
View our latest cancer statistics including key stats, in-depth explanations and raw data on cancer incidence, mortality, survival, risk, and diagnosis and treatment.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to the many organisations across the UK which collect, analyse, and share the data which we use, and to the patients and public who consent for their data to be used. Find out more about the sources which are essential for our statistics.