Cancers are classified by the type of cell that resembles the tumor and, therefore, the tissue presumed to be the origin of the tumor. Examples of general categories include:
These are just notes taken from the en.wikiepedia.org entries:
A sarcoma (from the Greek 'sarx' meaning "flesh") is a cancer of the connective or supportive tissue
- bone
- cartilage
- fat
- muscle
- blood vessels
and soft tissue. This is in contrast to carcinomas, which are of epithelial origin (breast, colon, pancreas, and others).
Connective tissues are Derived from mesoderm (The germ layer mesoderm forms in the embryos of animals more complex than cnidarians, making them triploblastic. Mesoderm forms during gastrulation when some of the cells migrating inward to form the endoderm form an additional layer between the endoderm and the ectoderm. This key innovation evolved hundreds of millions of years ago and led to the evolution of nearly all large, complex animals. The formation of a mesoderm led to the formation of a coelom. Organs formed inside a coelom (body cavity) can freely move, grow, and develop independently of the body wall while fluid cushions and protects them from shocks.), usually and are Involved in structure and support.
soft tissue refers to tissues that connect, support, or surround other structures and organs of the body. Soft tissue includes muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, nerves, fibrous tissues, fat, blood vessels, and synovial tissues.
Synovial membrane (or synovium) is the soft tissue that lines the non-cartilaginous surfaces within joints with cavities (synovial joints).
There are over 50 subtypes of sarcoma. The American Cancer Society's Key Statistics About Sarcoma states that the most common types of soft tissue sarcoma are: MFH or Malignant Fibrous Histiocytoma (28%) [ read: unclassified ], liposarcoma (15%), LMS or leiomyosarcoma (12%), synovial sarcoma (10%), malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (6%), and rhabdomyosarcoma (5%). All of the other types of soft tissue sarcoma occur at percentages of 3% or less. The ACS' Key Statistics for Bone Cancer states that the most common types of bone cancer are osteosarcoma (35%), chondrosarcoma (26%), Ewing's bone sarcoma (16%), chordoma (8%), and malignant fibrous histiocytoma/fibrosarcoma (6%). Other rare bone cancers account for the remaining 9%.