Sarcoma

What it means

A connective tissue neoplasm formed by proliferation of mesodermal cells. Bone and soft tissue sarcomas are the main types of sarcoma. Sarcoma is usually highly malignant.

A sarcoma (from the Greek sarx meaning flesh) is a general term describing a malignant neoplasm, or cancer, that arises from transformed connective tissue cells such as bone, cartilage and fat cells, which originate from embryonic mesoderm. This is in contrast to carcinomas, which are of epithelial origin (breast, colon, pancreas, and others). However, due to an evolving understanding of tissue origin, the term sarcoma is sometimes applied to tumors now known to arise from epithelial tissue. The term soft tissue sarcoma is used to describe tumors of soft tissue, which includes elements that are in connective tissue, but not derived from it (such as muscles and blood vessels).

Rare diseases that can present with this16

The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.

Part of the broader category

Also called: Malignant connective tissue tumor · Malignant connective tissue tumour