Sarcoma Sarcoma is a rare type of cancers which arises from normal body cells called as connective tissues. Broadly, sarcomas are classified as bone sarcomas and soft tissue sarcomas. Further sub-classification is based upon the type of particular cell where cancer arises. The different names sarcomas have are derived from cells where they originate.

Sarcoma – Epidemiology Sarcomas can attack people without differentiating the age; however they occur very rarely, accounting for just about a percentage all cases of cancers put together. Although, close to a half of occurrences are in the limbs, generally sarcomas are really unusual and that they can appear in any place of our bodies with a few examples being muscle, skin, cartilage, bones, nerves and any of the internal organs.

Differentiating sarcomatoid mesothelioma from other timorous cells is quite difficult even with the use of light microscopy. This is particularly so because Mesotheliomas generally boil down to two following types.

1. Epitheloid - Counting up to about 50-70 percentage of the total incidences; Epitheloid Sarcoma has the best chance for survival

2. Sarcomatoid - Counting up to about 7-20 percentage of all the incidences, but unfortunately this has the worst chance for survival.

Distinguishing between Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma and other types of Sarcoma is not always possible due to the fact that it is characteristically always cytokeratin-negative. In this background, experts studying the case have undertaken a study to investigate the usefulness and applicability of diagnostic immunohistochemistry for distinguishing Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma from its histological slickers such as

1. High-grade Sarcoma

2. Pulmonary Sarcomatoid Carcinoma

Advanced Studies on Sarcomatoid Mesothelioma The researchers, for the purpose of comparative study, have stained the mesothelioma tissues with components of sarcomatoidal tissues. Then they carried out a comparative study between the immunophenotypic profiles of these stained tumors with other 24 high grade sarcomas. Further, to evaluate the thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), the researchers stained the sarcomatoid carcinomas also. The study showed that the sarcomatoids hardly had any stains while Cytokeratin 5/6 had stained epithelioids almost entirely. In the meanwhile, thrombomodulin and Calretinin have each stained 70% of the Sarcomatoidal cells.

This and other studies have evidenced that chondrosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, and gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), which essentially are soft tissue sarcomas, have relatively higher incidences of occurrences in adults as opposed to children.Sarcoma - A Few More Examples Unlike the mesothelioma cancer, Sarcomas are named after the tissues they originate from, and here are a few more examples of the disease.

1. osteosarcoma – tissue of origin - bone

2. chondrosarcoma – tissue of origin - cartilage

3. leiomyosarcoma – tissue of origin - smooth muscles

Even occupational exposures may lead to angiosarcoma which arises from liver cells. These are common in persons who are exposed to vinyl chloride.

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