Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma

If your child has been diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma, you are likely looking for answers and guidance related to your questions and concerns about the disease.

While we urge you to discuss all aspects of your child’s diagnosis with your doctor, the following guide can be used as an introduction to alveolar soft part sarcoma, to help you gain a basic understanding of the disease.

What is Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma?

Alveolar soft part sarcoma is a devastating disease that is most commonly found in younger adults and kids. Abbreviated as ASPS, the disease is very rare and is a type of soft tissue sarcoma.

Another facet of ASPS to consider, which worsens the severity of an ASPS diagnosis, is that the cancer often metastasizes and migrates to other parts of the child’s body, usually the lungs and the brain.

The most common places for ASPS to first appear are in soft tissues deep in the body and muscles of the thighs and legs. However, ASPS can also appear in the hands, neck and head. ASPS can also grow inside your child’s bones.

What Are the Symptoms of Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma?

The symptoms of alveolar soft part sarcoma are quite similar to those of other soft tissue sarcomas and can include:

• Masses or growths in the legs, buttocks or face and neck that are largely painless.
• Problems walking, such as limpness or soreness in the legs or feet.
• Stiffness in the area of the tumor. Patients might find it difficult to move an affected arm or leg.
• General pain or soreness in the area of the mass that is caused by the tumor pushing on your child’s nerves or muscles.

It is important to note that ASPS can occur in adults, and if is present will commonly present in the lower extremities (your legs and feet). However, ASPS has also been located in adult female genital tracts, breasts, the bladder, the gastrointestinal tract and bones.

In children ASPS is primarily found in the head and neck region.

Unfortunately, these symptoms are often not present or are extremely mild and go unnoticed, which means that metastasis, or the spreading of cancer, is the first sign of the disease. ASPS is the only soft tissue sarcoma known to metastasize to the brain.

Treatment Options for Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma

As with other types of soft tissue sarcomas, the recommended course of treatment for ASPS is surgical resection. Chemotherapy and radiation tend to show no results with this type of cancer.

Chemotherapy and/or radiation are used to supplement surgery, either before or after the procedure, depending on the size and location of the tumor.

Survival rates are mixed, although doctors note declining morbidity even in patients with metastasizing tumors. Local recurrence is rare, but metastasis to other areas of the body, including the brain, is not. Overall, however, the Liddy Shriver Sarcoma Initiative reports that ASPS prognosis is quite poor.

Do You Have a Medical Malpractice Claim?

You might have a medical malpractice or tort claim if:

• Your child’s doctor misdiagnosed or missed signs of your child’s ASPS.
• The surgeon who performed your child’s ASPS treatment made mistakes that jeopardized your child’s recovery or long-term prognosis.
• Your child was prescribed medication that caused adverse effects or unadvertised, severe side effects.

If any of the above is the case or you feel as though your child’s ASPS was mishandled by medical professionals, please contact us today for a free consultation. If you speak up you might help prevent other ASPS patients from experiencing similar misfortune.