Treatments for recurrent soft tissue sarcoma

Recurrent soft tissue sarcoma means that the cancer has come back after it has been treated. If this happens, the treatment you have will depend on the location of the recurrence and how far the cancer has spread.

Recurrent soft tissue sarcoma is usually treated with a combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Your healthcare team will suggest treatment based on your needs, and they'll work with you to develop a treatment plan.

The following are treatments for recurrent soft tissue sarcoma.

You may be offered surgery for a recurrence of soft tissue sarcoma. The type of surgery you have depends on the depth, size and location of the tumour.

Surgery may be done for a local recurrence (the cancer comes back in the same area as the primary tumour).

Surgery may also be done for a distant recurrence (the cancer comes back in a part of the body other than where the cancer started) if the cancer has only spread to the lungs.

Find out more about surgery for soft tissue sarcoma.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells.

External radiation therapy, with or without chemotherapy, may be used for recurrent soft tissue sarcoma to:

• destroy cancer cells before surgery
• destroy any cancer cells that are still found around the tumour after surgery
• relieve or control the symptoms (called palliative therapy)

Find out more about radiation therapy for soft tissue sarcoma.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells.

Chemotherapy, with or without radiation therapy, may be used for recurrent soft tissue sarcoma:

• to shrink a tumour before surgery
• after surgery to lower the risk of the cancer coming back
• to relieve or control symptoms (called palliative therapy)

Find out more about chemotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma.

You may want to consider a type of care to make you feel better without treating the cancer itself. This may be because the cancer treatments don’t work anymore, they’re not likely to improve your condition or they may cause side effects that are hard to cope with. There may also be other reasons why you can’t have or don’t want cancer treatment.

Talk to your healthcare team. They can help you choose care and treatment for advanced cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people in Canada with soft tissue sarcoma. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.