Editing Sarcoma (section)

=== Staging ===
In general, [[cancer staging]] refers to how advanced a cancer is, and usually it is based upon factors such as tumor size and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/diagnosis-staging/staging|title=Staging|date=2015-03-09|website=National Cancer Institute|language=en|access-date=2019-03-21}}</ref> Staging is important because the stage affects the [[prognosis]] (likely outcome), as well as the types of treatments that are likely to be effective against the cancer.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> With sarcomas, staging requires a determination of whether the tumor has grown into surrounding tissues ("local invasion"), as well as imaging to determine whether it has spread (a process known as "[[metastasis]]") to lymph nodes (forming "nodal metastases") or to other tissues or organs in the body (forming "distant metastases").<ref name=":0" />

The most common imaging tools used for staging '''bone sarcomas''' are MRI or CT to evaluate the primary tumor, contrast-enhanced CT of the chest to evaluate whether the cancer has spread (i.e., metastasized) to the lungs, and radioisotope bone scan to evaluate whether the cancer has spread to other bones.<ref name=":0" /> Staging for '''soft-tissue sarcomas''' typically includes imaging of the primary tumor by MRI or CT to determine tumor size, as well as contrast-enhanced CT of the chest to evaluate for metastatic tumors in the lungs.<ref name=":0" />