[Preoperative Diagnostics and Typing of Abdominal Soft Tissue Sarcomas]

Background: Abdominal sarcomas are a heterogeneous group of rare soft tissue tumors and can be localized intraperitoneally or retroperitoneally. A pretherapeutic differentiated subtyping is essential for planning an individual, multimodal treatment concept in an interdisciplinary team of experts.

Objective: The central aspects of histology acquisition, imaging diagnostics and (molecular) pathological subtyping of abdominal soft tissue sarcomas are described in detail.

Material And Methods: Imaging and pathological diagnostics are depicted based on the German S3 guidelines on adult soft tissue sarcomas, a current literature search and personal experiences at the Sarcoma Center at the National Center for Tumor Diseases in Dresden (NCT/UCC).

Results: Preoperative imaging and (molecular) pathological subtyping of abdominal soft tissue sarcomas place high demands on surgeons, radiologists and pathologists. Genome analyses of sarcomas have the potential to identify points of attack for individualized treatment options. The limitations of resectability can only be assessed by experienced sarcoma surgeons at specialized centers.

Conclusion: The treatment of abdominal soft tissue sarcomas at an experienced center is associated with a better prognosis. Even at the first suspicion of an abdominal sarcoma, a referral to an experienced center should be made in order to guarantee optimal expertise in diagnostics and treatment.