Doctors call it the forgotten cancer: Here’s what you need to know about clear cell sarcoma

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Clear cell sarcoma is one of the most puzzling types of cancers for doctors. It accounts for just 1% of all sarcomas.

  • Listen to this story

According to the National Cancer Institute it is difficult to diagnose because signs and symptoms rarely appear. When the malignant tumors do appear–in areas such as the hands, feet and torso–they are painless. And oncologists can only detect this clear cell carcinoma under a microscope.

News 8 spoke with Dr. Todd Bertrand, orthopedic surgical oncologist at Franciscan Health Cancer Center, about what to look for.

“The most common signs or symptoms they we see is the recognition of a new mass in the soft tissue,” Bertrand told News 8. “These masses tend to appear in the soft tissue of the body [including the bones, the muscle] in the extremities. Someone may come in and say, ‘I’ve had this lump here for a while and I thought maybe I injured my knee or my ankle. But it hasn’t gotten any better and it seems to be getting bigger.’”

What makes this cancer even more difficult to diagnose is the tumors are not the same across all cases, Bertrand adds. Sometimes they are fixed and immovable. Other times they move and feel more like a cyst. But the important thing he says, is to watch if and how rapidly the tumor grows.

According to the National Cancer Institute, clear cell sarcoma is most common in teens and twenties. The average age of diagnosis is 25 years old.