Multidisciplinary Treatment of Soft Tissue Sarcomas

The purpose of this book is to contribute to the further development of the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of soft tissue sarcomas. A proper diagnosis and staging remains the cornerstone of the treatment strategy. Sophisticated histopathology techniques and growing consensus on grading systems have further increased the importance of the histopathologist in providing estimates of the prognosis of the patient as well as providing data for the planning of treatment strategy. The use of cytogenetics is relatively new in this field. This might enable distinction of subgroups in specific histological tumor types. Further to this, molecular biological studies not only help to reveal inherited predispositions and details in oncogenesis in tumour development, but they may also provide additional predictive factors for tumour behaviour. Further data for the treatment strategy will be provided by diagnostic imaging, in which field the role of magnetic resonance imaging is rapidly developing.