Soft Tissue Sarcoma of the Extremities and Trunk Wall – epidemiology, treatment and follow-up

Sarcomas of the extremities and trunk wall are a rare heterogenous group of malignant tumors of mesenchymal origin that arise in soft tissues (2/3rd) or bone (1/3rd). The Swedish sarcoma care is centralized to a few sarcoma centers of whom Skåne university hospital Lund is responsible for the southern Sweden healthcare region. The care of sarcoma patients is organized multidisciplinary in close collaboration between the department of orthopedics, oncology, diagnostic radiology, clinical pathology, clinical genetics, and others.

Since the 1980’s, all sarcoma patients in Southern Sweden have been enrolled in a unique register that initially was kept by the Scandinavian sarcoma group (SSG) but is now part of the national sarcoma register in INCA. The register contains patient data, clinical and histopathological tumor data, data on surgical and oncological treatment as well as data on follow up, recurrences and survival. The register has near complete coverage when compared to the national cancer register. Fresh frozen tumor samples have also been collected in a biobank since the 1980’s, making further genetic analyses possible.

Our aim is to improve prognostication and to better understand the behavior of sarcomas with a series of projects on soft tissue sarcoma.