Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Healthcare providers will ask you about your symptoms, specifically unusual lumps or bumps on your body. They’ll do a physical examination. They may do several tests, including:

• X-ray. X-rays take pictures of your soft tissues.
• Computed tomography (CT). CT uses computers to combine many X-ray images into cross-sectional views of the inside of your body. Providers often use this test to look for soft tissue sarcomas in your chest and the back of your belly.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI uses a large magnet, radio waves and a computer to create clear images of your internal organs. Your provider may order this test if X-rays show abnormal growths and your provider wants clearer pictures.
• PET scan. This test uses a special glucose tracer that’s concentrated in cancer cells. The tracer detects higher-than-normal glucose in your body. High glucose levels may be a sign of a fast-growing cancerous tumor.
• Ultrasound. This test relies on sound waves and their echoes to develop pictures of parts of the body.
• Biopsy. Your provider obtains tissue that a medical pathologist will examine under a microscope. The pathologist may do several tests to identify the sarcoma type, stage and grade. Knowing tumor grade is how providers determine if a tumor is likely to grow slowly, grow fast or spread (metastasize).