ABSTRACT
Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are malignant tumors of mesenchymal origin. It is estimated that 9420 new cases of STS will be diagnosed in the United States in 2005, and of these 3490 patients will die because of disease-related causes (1). It has been difficult to study STS behavior and the effectiveness of treatment for these biologically diverse tumors because of their rarity, owing to the fact that they represent less than 1% of all adult tumors. Management guidelines for STS are based upon few randomized prospective trials and the clinical experience of specialized centers that manage comparatively large numbers of sarcomas. In light of this, most treatment recommendations are practice-based.
