Empower Your Fight Against Sarcoma
Sarcoma is a complex diagnosis, but you are not without options. Learn about the disease, treatment paths, and how preserving your living tumor tissue can unlock unprecedented possibilities for personalized care.
Talk to a Care SpecialistWhat is Sarcoma?
Sarcoma is a rare type of cancer that originates in the bones or in the soft tissues of the body, including muscles, fat, blood vessels, nerves, tendons, and the lining of your joints. Because there are more than 70 subtypes of sarcoma, diagnosing and treating it requires highly specialized expertise.
While relatively rare compared to more common cancers like breast or lung cancer, sarcomas can occur anywhere in the body. Soft tissue sarcomas represent about 80% of all cases, while bone sarcomas make up the remaining 20%.
What Does Sarcoma Do?
Sarcomas develop when healthy cells in bone or soft tissues undergo genetic mutations, causing them to multiply rapidly and uncontrollably. These abnormal cells form a tumor that can invade and destroy healthy tissue.
- Localized Compression: Tumors can press on nearby nerves, organs, or blood vessels, causing pain or swelling.
- Metastasis: Like many cancers, sarcoma can spread to other parts of the body, most commonly the lungs, which complicates treatment.
- Tissue Damage: Aggressive tumors can weaken bones (increasing fracture risk) or severely impair muscle function.
Current Treatment Options
Surgery
The primary treatment for most localized sarcomas is surgical removal of the tumor along with a healthy margin of tissue to ensure all cancer cells are removed.
Radiation Therapy
Often utilized before surgery to shrink the tumor, or after surgery to target and kill any remaining microscopic cancer cells using high-energy beams.
Systemic Therapy
Includes chemotherapy and targeted drug therapies designed to attack cancer cells throughout the whole body, which is critical if the cancer has spread.
Why Bank Your Living Sarcoma Tissue?
Because sarcomas have over 70 distinct subtypes, matching the right treatment to your specific tumor is absolutely critical. Standard of care destroys your tumor tissue after surgery. By cryopreserving your living tissue with KernisHealth, you keep your future options open.
Functional Drug Testing
Living tissue allows for ex vivo drug sensitivity testing. We can facilitate testing different chemotherapy and targeted drugs on your actual living tumor to see what works best before putting the drugs into your body.
Advanced Immunotherapy Models
Preserved living tissue can be utilized in advanced 3D models (organoids) to test emerging immunotherapies and bespoke cell therapies tailored to your unique biology.
Clinical Trial Readiness
Many cutting-edge clinical trials require fresh or specialized tissue collection. Having your live tissue safely banked means you hold the key to enrolling in trials you might otherwise be locked out of.
Future-Proofing Your Care
Precision oncology is advancing rapidly. The tests and treatments available next year may require living cells. Banking your tissue today ensures you aren't left behind by tomorrow's breakthroughs.