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The American Cancer Society estimates that this year approximately 11,600 Americans will be diagnosed with cancers of the bone and soft tissue. This family of cancers is commonly referred to as sarcomas.

Soft tissue sarcomas are cancerous tumors that can develop from fat, muscle, nerve, fibrous tissues surrounding joints, blood vessel, or deep skin tissues. They can develop in any part of the body. Half of them develop in the arms or legs. The rest begin in the trunk, head and neck area, internal organs, or the back of the abdominal cavity.

Bone tumors may be noncancerous or cancerous. Noncancerous bone tumors are more common than cancerous ones. Both types may grow and compress healthy bone tissue and absorb or replace it with abnormal tissue.

Cancer that arises in the bone, which is primary bone cancer, is not the same disease as cancer that spreads to the bone from another part of the body, secondary bone cancer. Primary bone cancer is rare, with approximately 2,500 new cases diagnosed each year in the United States. More commonly, bones are the site of tumors that result from the spread of cancer from another organ, such as the breast, lungs and prostate.

Our Program
The Musculoskeletal Tumor Program at Blumenthal Cancer Center began in 1992 to provide patients state-of-the-art treatment at Carolinas Medical Center. Bone and soft tissue cancers are complex diagnostically and require treatment through a multidisciplinary team approach. The program brings together a highly skilled team of healthcare professionals to give each patient the optimal diagnostic, treatment and evaluation options available.

Jeff Kneisl, MD, is the program director of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Program, which receives regional referrals from western North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee and eastern Georgia. The program is in its 13th year of service and now sees more than 300 new referrals annually.