Is a soft tissue mass a tumor?

Soft tissue is a type of tissue that is distributed throughout the body. Soft tissue is manifested as various muscles, fat, etc., and occupies the vast majority of the body's mass. Soft tissue is the main carrier of physical diseases and has a great impact on people's health. Soft tissue diseases are often in the form of lumps. Let's take a look at whether soft tissue lumps are tumors? I hope everyone can understand this explanation.

Soft tissue tumors are tumors that originate from mesenchymal tissue and are located within the soft tissue. They are mainly tumors of the soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system (such as muscles, ligaments, periosteum, fat, etc.). Benign ones are tumors, and malignant ones are sarcomas. Soft tissue tumors can occur in any part of the body at any age, but are more common in young and middle-aged people, and most often occur on the trunk.

Clinical manifestations of soft tissue masses:

Patients may develop a painless, progressively enlarging mass that they may notice over weeks or months; they may also experience fever, weight loss, and general malaise; systemic symptoms are rare. A less common but important clinical problem is hypoglycemia, which often accompanies fibrosarcoma.

Surgical treatment of soft tissue masses:

(1) Radical surgery: Tumors in all locations must be removed together with the surrounding normal tissues. The surgical resection should also include the biopsy site, skin and some nearby muscles. For muscle tumors, the affected muscle should be completely removed from head to tail. Lymph node dissection was performed only when lymph node involvement was clinically demonstrated.

(2) Debulking surgery is a method used for some soft tissue tumors that cannot be completely removed. Other non-surgical treatments are followed after surgery to improve the patient's quality of life and prolong the patient's life. For example, for malignant giant retroperitoneal liposarcoma, debulking surgery can be performed first, followed by radiotherapy, which can achieve good results.

(3) Amputation should only be considered when the limb has a pathological fracture, loss of mobility or other serious conditions that cannot be saved by other methods.