Causes

In most cases, it's not clear what causes soft tissue sarcoma.

In general, cancer occurs when cells develop errors (mutations) in their DNA. The errors make cells grow and divide out of control. The accumulating abnormal cells form a tumor that can grow to invade nearby structures and the abnormal cells can spread to other parts of the body.

The type of cell that develops the genetic mutation determines what type of soft tissue sarcoma you have. For example, angiosarcoma begins in the lining of blood vessels, while liposarcoma arises from fat cells. Some types of soft tissue sarcoma include:

• Angiosarcoma
• Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans
• Epithelioid sarcoma
• Gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST)
• Kaposi's sarcoma
• Leiomyosarcoma
• Liposarcoma
• Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor
• Myxofibrosarcoma
• Rhabdomyosarcoma
• Solitary fibrous tumor
• Synovial sarcoma
• Undifferentiated (pleomorphic sarcoma)