Sarcoma

Our understanding of the biology and treatment of sarcomas has blossomed over the last few decades, led by the evolution of improved diagnostic techniques, classification of tumors, understanding of their behavior, and the molecular identification of translocations, mutations, and other genetic drivers. Whereas most past sarcoma clinical studies tended to lump sarcomas into one malignant entity, often because of the rarity of the subtypes, the establishment and collaboration of international centers that focus on sarcoma have permitted the rapid study of smaller and better defined subsets of disease.

The markedly improved treatment of advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) that quickly followed the identification of KIT mutations serves as a paradigm-changing approach to the management of nearly all solid tumors. Subsequent studies provided prognostic information for the risk of tumor recurrence and predictive information for the treatment response of tumors, led the way for the development of other lines of systemic therapy, and helped to guide surgical management of disease. On the basis of these approaches to GIST treatment and in parallel with these discoveries, key diagnostic, pathogenic, and therapeutic advances have been made in other sarcoma subtypes with continued promise for new findings and improved outcomes.

These topics are reviewed in this issue of Hematology/Oncology Clinics of North America , with articles contributed by a collection of international authors expert in the diagnosis and management of sarcomas. I am grateful for their contributions as well as for the editorial assistance of Patrick Manley and his staff at Elsevier for their support in putting together this issue. With further work in this field, I look forward to a future edition that recapitulates and extends the success seen to date in GIST in other sarcoma subtypes.

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