Pulmonary and thoracic sarcomas

Pulmonary and thoracic sarcomas are rare tumours arising from any of the tissues of the chest, including soft tissue and bone of chest wall, lung, pleura and thymus and heart. They show a wide range of histological appearances and are classified on histological grounds by the presence of specific and characteristic differentiation features and, increasingly, the presence of specific chromosomal translocations. The relative frequency of individual tumour types varies with the anatomical site and age of the patient. Most pulmonary and thoracic sarcomas present as large, heterogeneous masses, although presentation as solitary pulmonary nodules, central endobronchial tumours, and intraluminal masses within the pulmonary arteries has also been described. Metastatic sarcomas are much more likely to be encountered than primary lesions and, as such, the diagnosis of primary sarcoma of the thorax should be made only after sarcoma-like primary lung and pleural malignancies and metastatic disease have been excluded.