By Krizha Gomez

DEFINITION
Liposarcoma is a type of cancer . Malignant form of lipoma and the second most common type of soft tissue sarcoma. It grows on the fatty tissue. Liposarcoma is commonly found in legs and thighs. Liposarcoma is normally found in adults in the 40 to 60 year age bracket and occur usually in the extremities or retroperitoneum (space behind your abdominal organs). Like all other forms of sarcomas, occurrence of this disease is rare.

Physical:
Liposarcoma usually appears as a well-circumscribed palpable mass as large as 10 cm in diameter. The mass tends to grow slowly over time. The lesion is commonly not tender on palpation. Diffuse abdominal enlargement may be observed in patients with retroperitoneal disease. Fascial compartmentalization may cause liposarcomas to have awkward discoid and fusiform shapes rather than smooth, round forms. Thus, liposarcoma can appear with an array of clinical morphologies and manifestations. Other aspects to note on physical examination are neurologic involvement and lymphadenopathy.

Well-differentiated
most common type WDLS is made up of mature (fully grown) fat cells most often found in the deep tissue of legs, and thighs

TYPES

Myxoid
second most common type look like jelly and have a large amount of water in them spread to areas outside the lungs

Pleomorphic rare tumors have very little or no fat in them commonly found in your leg muscles are very hard to treat and often return

Dedifferentiated

made up of both a fatty tumor and a non-fatty tumor.

The fatty part of the tumor is a WDLS. The non-fatty part of the tumor is made up of cells found in bone, muscles, or skin tissue.

Signs and Symptoms/Manifestation

Decreased movement in the limb that has the tumor. Pain and swelling in the area of your tumor. Chest pain. Constipation (hard, dry stools), and diarrhea (loose, watery stools). May also have pain when having a bowel movement (BM), or see blood in stools. Trouble urinating or pain while urinating. Trouble swallowing and voice changes. Trouble breathing and coughing. Weight loss. Nausea and Vomiting

Biopsy Computerized tomography scan Magnetic resonance imaging Positron emission tomography scan X-ray

Diagnosis

Treatment
Surgery

Wide local excision. During surgical excision, your surgeon removes (excises) cancerous tissue, along with a margin of surrounding healthy tissue. Limb-sparing surgery. Your surgeon may use one of several surgical techniques to remove the tumor from your limb without amputation. Amputation. Large tumors or those located in complex regions may require surgery to remove all or part of the limb.
Chemotherapy

to shrink the tumor before surgery. Chemotherapy may also be used to try to kill small seeds of cancer in other parts of the body that even advanced imaging tests can't detect.

Radiation may be given before or after surgery to reduce the risk of recurrence.

When should I call my caregiver? Call your caregiver if: You are having trouble swallowing. You see or feel any new lumps in your body. You feel new pain in the area of your tumor. You are unable to have a BM. You think or know you are pregnant. When should I seek immediate help? You have chest pain and trouble breathing. You have no feeling in or near the area where your liposarcoma is. You are unable to move the part of your body where your tumor is. You see blood in your stools. You vomit blood.