Sarcoma Program

We offer a variety of specialties, including surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, radiology, pathology, and support services.

Surgery is often a key part of treatment for sarcomas of the bone and soft tissue. During your consultation, your care team designs a treatment plan tailored to your individual needs. Depending on the diagnosis, the following types of surgery may be considered for sarcomas of the bone and soft tissue:

• Wide local excision: Removal of the cancer and some healthy tissue around it.
• Nerve pain repair and reconstruction: Management of complex nerve injuries and paralysis, with a focus on the peripheral nerve and brachial plexus. Our team offers advanced reconstruction techniques, such as nerve grafting and transfers, along with expert occupational and rehabilitation therapy.

For tumors that involve the bone, the following types of surgery may also be considered:

• Limb-sparing surgery: Removal of the tumor in an arm or leg without amputation, preserving the use and appearance of the limb. After the tumor is removed, the tissue and bone taken out may be replaced with a graft—using tissue and bone taken from another part of your body—or with an implant. Most patients with osteosarcoma can be treated with this type of surgery.
• Amputation: In some cases, the entire tumor cannot be removed with limb-sparing surgery, and amputation may be used to remove part or all of an arm or leg. If you have an amputation, you may be fitted with a prosthesis afterward.

After successful surgery to remove the sarcoma, patients may also be given chemotherapy to destroy any remaining cancer cells. For soft tissue sarcomas, chemotherapy may be used before or after surgery and radiation. Several approved chemotherapy options are available for you and your oncologist to consider together.

Yale Cancer Center, also offers clinical trials through Smilow Cancer Hospital, giving patients access to the latest treatment combinations and new therapies. Smilow Cancer Hospital and Yale Cancer Center are members of the Sarcoma Alliance for Research through Collaboration (SARC), a collaboration of distinguished research institutions throughout the country working together to design and evaluate clinical trials, with the shared goal of ending sarcoma. New trials are available using targeted therapies, kinase inhibitors, and monoclonal antibodies to treat advanced and recurrent sarcomas.

Some patients having surgery may have first receive radiation therapy to shrink a tumor and improve the chances of a successful surgery. Radiation therapy is also often used after surgery to help eliminate any remaining cancer cells. In some cases, radiation can be a main treatment for sarcoma when a patient isn't healthy enough for surgery.

Our team of radiation oncologists, radiation therapists, medical physicists, and other experts, is trained to treat soft tissue sarcomas. Proton therapy may also be considered—this advanced, highly targeted type of radiation therapy uses proton beams instead of standard X-rays to treat bone and soft tissue sarcomas.

Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging uses state-of-the-art CT, MRI, and ultrasound imaging to better diagnose and stage sarcomas and guide treatment decisions. Our radiologists bring extensive experience and dedication to providing the best possible patient care. They routinely consult with the physicians in the Sarcoma Program and review all available imaging to ensure an accurate diagnosis—and, and, in turn, the most appropriate treatment for you.

Our pathology team plays a fundamental role in preventing, diagnosing, and treating soft tissue sarcomas and sarcomas of the bone at Smilow Cancer Hospital. Our pathologists have extensive diagnostic experience and a passion for patient care. In the era of precision medicine, our team does more than provide a tissue diagnosis—they actively take part in the real-time decisions about patient care, including daily consultations, weekly tumor board conferences, and ongoing clinical trial programs.

At Smilow Cancer Hospital, we care for the whole person, pairing the best available medical care with a network of supportive services. Nurses with dedicated knowledge in sarcoma treatment are available to support you throughout your care.

You and your family also have access to social workers who provide psychosocial support during treatment and help you find resources—both at Smilow and in the wider community—to cope with the impact cancer can have on your life. Additional resources available to you and your family include pastoral support, nutritional counseling, physical therapy, palliative care, integrative medicine, and complementary therapies.