Colorado doctor shares chemotherapy advancements in treating sarcoma cancers

"Most physicians don't see sarcoma regularly," which is why Sarcoma Awareness Month is so important. As one Colorado doctor says, seek out a specialist if you notice a growth or something painful. It's important to be aware of the signs and symptoms because there is no screening protocol for sarcomas.

Dr. Daniel Lerman, an orthopedic oncologist from Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical CenterPresbyterian/St. Luke's, doesn't want to scare people, but "I see many patients who have something that they've been watching for a long time. And like any cancer, the sooner it's identified, the sooner we start treatment, the better everybody's outcome." 

Sarcomas are very specific types of cancers that represent about 1 percent of cancers in adults. "It's important to increase awareness around sarcomas because they occur in the muscular, skeletal system, or the connective tissue of our body. They arise in our bones, they arise in our fat cells, our tendons, muscles, fat tissues. So it's all of the kind of stuff that's keeping us together that keeps us moving," he says. 

Pain is a good thing in the case of sarcomas because it will tell you something is wrong.

"Pain that usually occurs at night or pain that occurs at rest," Lerman says. "When you're running around [living] your normal life, it should not be something that bothers you. When your body's sort of calm and you're relaxed and you're trying to go to sleep at night, if there's a deep, achy, throbby pain that persists in some part of your body, that's worth looking at and understanding better."

After talking to your doctor about something, they will get an image of it, possibly a lump or a bump, and send it for a biopsy.

"Most of the things that I see are benign -- non-cancerous masses -- and they're very easy to treat. But it's important, obviously, to know exactly what you're dealing with and know exactly what you're treating before you remove something," Lerman says. 

In the last two years, there are been dramatic advancements in chemotherapy. Lerman says, "One of the big things in our space is really having a whole team approach to treating sarcoma. Because it is an aggressive cancer, treatments usually involve surgery, radiation therapy, and sometimes, some form of chemotherapy." This means, the stereotypical image of a someone losing their hair won't necessarily be the case.

"There are many new therapeutic options that we can give to people that they can take and still have a very good quality of life."