Treatments for stage 1 soft tissue sarcoma

The following are treatment options for stage 1 (localized and low-grade) soft tissue sarcoma. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Surgery is the main treatment for stage 1 soft tissue sarcoma. It’s often the only treatment needed.

The main goal of surgery is to remove the whole tumour along with some normal tissue around it (called the surgical margin). A wide excision is done to remove the tumour and a small amount of the surgical margin. Doctors may use other terms for wide excision, such as en bloc resection or wide resection.

Limb-sparing surgery is often used to remove tumours in an arm or a leg. During limb-sparing surgery, surgeons do a wide excision to remove the tumour without amputating the limb.

Sometimes another surgery is done to remove more tissue if cancer cells are found around the tumour (called a positive surgical margin), or if there wasn’t enough normal tissue removed.

Find out more about surgery for soft tissue sarcoma.

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

You may be offered external radiation therapy for stage 1 soft tissue sarcoma. It may be given before surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence.

Sometimes, radiation therapy may be given after surgery if there are still cancer cells found around the tumour (called a positive surgical margin).

Find out more about radiation therapy for soft tissue sarcoma.

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