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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Sarcomas (soft tissue, bone, GIST) says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Sarcomas are dozens of rare cancers of bone and connective tissue. GIST was the first solid tumour cured-in-practice by a targeted pill; synovial sarcoma got the first TCR-T therapy. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Wide excision + radiation; neoadjuvant chemotherapy for high-risk.
Wide resection (limb-salvage) ± radiotherapy for margins or size >5 cm; observation thereafter.
Resection; adjuvant imatinib 3 years for high risk (SSGXVIII), longer under study; none for PDGFRA D842V or SDH-deficient (imatinib-insensitive).
Neoadjuvant anthracycline-ifosfamide × 3 (ISG-STS 1001) ± preoperative radiotherapy, then wide resection; regional hyperthermia with chemotherapy where available (EORTC 62961).
Doxorubicin ± ifosfamide; subtype-directed: imatinib, afami-cel, larotrectinib (tazemetostat was withdrawn in March 2026).
Doxorubicin 75 mg/m2 (single agent) or doxorubicin-ifosfamide for symptomatic/rapid disease (EORTC 62012: PFS but not OS benefit); histotype exceptions: trabectedin or gemcitabine-docetaxel for leiomyosarcoma, paclitaxel for angiosarcoma. Adding olaratumab to doxorubicin gave no survival benefit (ANNOUNCE).
Imatinib 400 mg (800 mg for exon 9) → sunitinib → regorafenib → ripretinib (INVICTUS); avapritinib for PDGFRA D842V; ctDNA KIT genotyping to choose ripretinib vs sunitinib second line (INSIGHT); surgery for oligoprogression.
Neoadjuvant MAP (methotrexate, doxorubicin, cisplatin) → limb-salvage resection → adjuvant MAP; no benefit from adding ifosfamide-etoposide or interferon (EURAMOS-1); metastatic/relapsed: surgery of lung metastases, regorafenib/cabozantinib.
Interval-compressed VDC/IE (INT-0091, AEWS0031, Euro Ewing 2012) with surgery and/or radiotherapy for local control; high-dose busulfan-melphalan for selected high-risk (Euro-EWING 99 R2); relapse: irinotecan-temozolomide, cabozantinib, trials.
Active surveillance first (many regress); nirogacestat (DeFi) for progressing symptomatic disease; sorafenib alternative; surgery only for select sites; cryoablation for extra-abdominal tumours.
Surgery for localised disease; vimseltinib (MOTION) or pexidartinib (REMS for hepatotoxicity) for diffuse disease not amenable to surgery.
Trabectedin (L-sarcomas), eribulin (liposarcoma), pazopanib (non-adipocytic), gemcitabine-docetaxel, dacarbazine; pembrolizumab for alveolar soft-part sarcoma or UPS; larotrectinib for NTRK fusion; afami-cel or lete-cel for MAGE-A4/NY-ESO-1+ synovial sarcoma and MRCLS.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.