Sarcoma of the trunk, arms or legs is staged by tumour size (5 cm and 10 cm are the cut-offs) and grade, with spread to lymph nodes or elsewhere making it stage IV.
AJCC chapter 41 covers soft tissue sarcoma of the trunk and extremities and is an 8th edition chapter in the AJCC 2026 table. In the NCI's summary, stage IA is a low-grade tumour of 5 cm or less and IB a low-grade tumour larger than 5 cm; stage II is mid or high grade and 5 cm or less; IIIA is mid or high grade and 5 to 10 cm; IIIB is mid or high grade and larger than 10 cm; stage IV is spread to nearby lymph nodes or distant sites. The retroperitoneum has its own stages, and the NCI notes there is no standard staging for sarcoma of the head and neck, chest or abdominal organs. The stage descriptions are those in the National Cancer Institute's PDQ summary, which follows the AJCC tables.
Bone sarcomas favour the fast-growing ends of long bones (osteosarcoma) or the shaft (Ewing), soft tissue sarcomas the deep muscle compartments; spread is through the blood to the lungs, rarely via lymph nodes.
Lymph node spread is rare (except epithelioid, synovial, clear cell and rhabdomyosarcoma); sarcomas go through the blood to the lungs.
Same organ: Adamantinoma of bone, Dedifferentiated chordoma, Poorly differentiated chordoma (SMARCB1-deficient), Desmoplastic small round cell tumour, Leiomyosarcoma, Liposarcoma, Synovial sarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, Rhabdomyosarcoma, Chordoma, Desmoid tumour, Tenosynovial giant cell tumour (TGCT), Epithelioid sarcoma, Vascular tumours (angiosarcoma, epithelioid haemangioendothelioma, kaposiform haemangioendothelioma), Chondrosarcoma, Angiosarcoma, Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS), Myxofibrosarcoma, Alveolar soft part sarcoma, Perivascular epithelioid cell tumour (PEComa), Epithelioid haemangioendothelioma, Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour (MPNST), Retroperitoneal sarcoma, Soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity (localised and advanced)
Showing the organ this term concerns: Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST).
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
Shares Disease-specific staging and risk systems (FIGO, Ann Arbor, IPI, R-ISS, ELN, IMDC), TNM staging.
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