Dr. Ganjoo on the Rarity of Uterine Sarcomas

Kristen N. Ganjoo, MD, associate professor of medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford Medicine, discusses the rarity and diagnosis of uterine sarcomas.

Uterine sarcomas are a very rare type of tumor found in the uterus, explains Ganjoo. About 5% of all carcinomas are sarcomas, which are comprised of leiomyosarcomas, undifferentiated sarcoma, and endometrial stromal sarcoma. About 5,000 cases of uterine sarcomas are diagnosed in the United States annually. The only potentially curative option is surgery, says Ganjoo. Early diagnosis is extremely important because if it becomes metastatic it is then incurable.

It is very difficult to diagnose uterine sarcomas using ultrasound or MRI, notes Ganjoo. Moreover, a biopsy can come back as non-diagnostic. Rapid growth of the tumor is generally an indication that it is a sarcoma rather than a fibroid. Therefore, if a patient gets an ultrasound and 6 months later the mass doubles in size, physicians can be confident that it is a uterine sarcoma, Ganjoo concludes.