Liposarcoma is a type of cancer that starts in fatty tissue. It can develop anywhere on the body that has fat cells, but it typically appears in the abdomen or upper legs.

In this article, we’ll look at the different types of liposarcoma, as well as the symptoms, risk factors, treatment, and prognosis.

脂肪肉瘤是一种罕见的癌症类型，它在体内软组织中的脂肪细胞中发展。它也称为脂肪肿瘤或软组织肉瘤。有50多种软组织肉瘤，但脂肪肉瘤是 most common 。

It can occur in fat cells anywhere in the body, but is most often found in the:

  • 胳膊和腿，尤其是大腿
  • 腹部后部（腹膜后）
  • 腹股沟

At first glance, a脂肪瘤可以是脂肪肉瘤。它们都在脂肪组织中形成，并且都会引起团块。

But these are two very different conditions. The biggest distinction is that lipoma is noncancerous (良性）和脂肪肉瘤是癌变（malignant).

Lipoma tumors form just under the skin, usually in the shoulders, neck, trunk, or arms. The mass tends to feel soft or rubbery and moves when you push with your fingers.

Unless lipomas cause an increase in small blood vessels, they’re normally painless and not likely to cause other symptoms. They don’t spread.

Liposarcoma forms deeper within the body, usually in the abdomen or thighs. Symptoms can include pain, swelling, and changes to weight. If untreated, they can spread throughout the body.

There are five main subtypes of liposarcoma. A biopsy can tell which type it is.

  • 差异很好：这种缓慢的脂肪肉瘤是最常见的亚型。
  • Myxoid:通常在四肢中发现，它倾向于散布到远处的皮肤，肌肉或骨头。
  • 推导：通常发生在腹部中的缓慢增长的亚型。
  • 圆形细胞：Usually located in the thigh, this subtype involves changes to chromosomes.
  • 多态性：这是最不常见的，并且最有可能在治疗后传播或复发。

早期，脂肪肉瘤不会引起症状。除了能够在脂肪组织区域感觉到肿块外，可能没有其他症状。随着肿瘤的增长，症状可能包括：

  • 发烧，发冷，汗水
  • fatigue
  • weight loss or weight gain

症状取决于肿瘤的位置。例如，腹部肿瘤可能引起：

  • 疼痛
  • swelling
  • 即使在淡淡的饭后也感到饱
  • constipation
  • 呼吸困难
  • blood in the stool or vomit

A tumor in the arm or leg can cause:

  • weakness in the limb
  • 疼痛
  • swelling

当脂肪细胞发生遗传变化时，脂肪肉瘤就开始了，导致它们失控。触发这些更改的究竟是什么尚不清楚。

In the United States, there are about2,000new cases of liposarcoma a year. Anyone can get it, but it’s most likely to affect men between the ages of 50 and 60. It seldom affects children.

风险因素包括：

  • prior radiation treatment
  • personal or family history of cancer
  • 淋巴系统的损害
  • 长期暴露于有毒化学物质（例如乙烯基氯化物）

The diagnosis can be made with abiopsy。A sample of tissue will need to be removed from the tumor. If the tumor is hard to reach, imaging tests such as anMRIorCT scancan be used to guide the needle to the tumor.

成像测试还可以帮助确定肿瘤的大小和数量。这些测试还可以判断附近的器官和组织是否受到影响。

The tissue sample will be sent to a pathologist, who will examine it under a microscope. The pathology report will be sent to your doctor. This report will tell your doctor whether the mass is cancerous, as well as details about the type of cancer.

治疗将取决于许多因素，例如：

  • the size and location of the primary tumor
  • 肿瘤是否干扰血管或重要结构
  • 癌症是否已经扩散
  • 脂肪肉瘤的特定亚型
  • 您的年龄和整体健康

The main treatment is surgery. The goal of surgery is to remove the entire tumor plus a small margin of healthy tissue. This may not be possible if the tumor has grown into vital structures. If that’s the case, radiation and chemotherapy will likely be used to shrink the tumor prior to surgery.

辐射是一种靶向疗法，使用能量束杀死癌细胞。手术后可以使用它来破坏可能留下的任何癌细胞。

化学疗法是一种涉及杀死癌细胞的强大药物的系统治疗。手术后，它可用于破坏可能从原发性肿瘤中脱离的癌细胞。

完成治疗后,你需要定期monitoring to make sure the liposarcoma hasn’t come back. This will likely include physical exams and imaging tests, like CT scans or MRIs.

Clinical trialsmay be an option as well. These studies can give you access to newer treatments that aren’t yet available elsewhere. Ask your doctor about clinical trials that may be a good fit for you.

Liposarcoma can be successfully treated. Once you’ve completed treatment, follow-ups should continue for at least 10 years, but perhaps for life. Your prognosis depends on many individual factors, such as the:

  • 脂肪肉瘤亚型
  • tumor size
  • 诊断阶段
  • ability to get negative margins in surgery

According to theshriver Liposarcoma倡议,手术结合放射治疗shown to prevent recurrence at the surgical site in 85 to 90 percent of cases. The initiative lists the disease-specific survival rates of certain individual subtypes as:

  • 差异很好：100 percent at 5 years and 87 percent at 10 years
  • Myxoid:5年时88％，10年时76％
  • 多态性：56 percent at 5 years and 39 percent at 10 years

当涉及肿瘤形成很重要的分化和去分化的亚型时。在腹部发展的肿瘤可能更难完全切除。

根据国家癌症研究所的说法 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER) , the 5-year relative survival rate for people with soft tissue cancer is 64.9 percent.

SEER divides cancers into stages. These stages are based on where the cancer is located and how far it has spread in the body. Here are the relative 5-year survival rates for soft tissue cancer by stage:

  • Localized:81.2 percent
  • 区域：57.4 percent
  • 遥远：15.9％
  • 未知：55 percent

这些统计数据是基于在2009年至2015年之间被诊断和治疗的人。

癌症治疗正在迅速发展。今天被诊断出的人的预后可能与几年前不同。请记住，这些是一般统计数据，它们可能不代表您的情况。

Your oncologist can give you a much better idea of your outlook.

Liposarcoma is a fairly rare type of cancer that can often be effectively treated. There are many factors that affect your specific treatment options. Talk to your doctor about the specifics of your liposarcoma to learn more about what you can expect.