Fibrosarcoma is a type of malignant tumor that often develops at the ends of the leg and arm bones where the connective tissue attaches to the bone. Fibrosarcoma starts in the fibroblasts, which are cells found in connective tissue, and occurs when these cells begin to grow abnormally and uncontrollably into a mass. When dealing with fibrosarcoma, there are three main treatment options: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The type of treatment needed depends on how far the disease has progressed before treatment begins.
Instructions
1. Have the tumor surgically removed from your body. In this procedure, your surgeon will sever the tumor from the feeding blood vessels and connected tissue. For more severe cases, surrounding bone and muscle tissue may also be removed to ensure that all the cancer cells have been removed. Surgical removal is typically paired with either radiation, chemotherapy or both.
2. Treat the tumor with intensity modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT. Have the tumor imaged using CT or MRI scans. Once the tumor is mapped, IMRT uses hundreds of small advanced radiation beams that are able to bend around the tumor. Schedule follow-up treatments because several sessions may be needed, according to the Mayo Clinic.
3. Use 3D conformal radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink the size of the tumor. 3D conformal radiation therapy uses specialized equipment to take a 3D image of the tumor and then uses that image to better direct the radiation beams onto the tumor without severely affecting surrounding tissue. This also allows the use of a higher dose of radiation, which can help provide better overall results, according to the Cancer Treatment Centers of America.
4. Use chemotherapy to kill cancer cells and help the disease enter into remission. Chemotherapy introduces medications into the body that travel through the bloodstream to target the fibrosarcoma. The chemotherapy drugs work by interfering with the cancer cells' abilities to grow and reproduce. Chemotherapy can be given in pill form, intravenously through a vein, a direct injection into the muscle tissue or intrathecally into the spinal column.
Tags: cancer cells, conformal radiation, connective tissue, Have tumor, kill cancer, kill cancer cells, muscle tissue
