If you’ve been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer that starts in smooth muscle tissues, it’s important to find a doctor and treatment team who have experience treating sarcoma tumors. You and your doctor should talk about all of your treatment options, which may include surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy.
Treatment for leiomyosarcoma depends on the stage of your cancer. If you have early stage cancer (stage I or II), you may only need surgery to treat your leiomyosarcoma. Surgery is the most common treatment for leiomyosarcoma.
Surgery for Leiomyosarcoma
During surgery, doctors will try to remove the entire tumor or tumors to keep the cancer from growing and spreading to other areas of your body. They’ll also check the organ or areas near your tumor to see if the cancer has spread. Depending on where
your tumor is located, this may include organs such as the uterus and ovaries and the peritoneum, which is the thin membrane lining your pelvis and abdominal area.
Surgery helps doctors figure out what stage your cancer is and whether you’ll need further treatment. If you have stage III or IV cancer, which means cancer has spread to other areas of your body like your lymph nodes or other organs, your medical team may recommend more surgery, such as a hysterectomy to remove your uterus or removal of lymph nodes that contain cancer cells, depending on where the cancer is.
After the operation, recovering from the surgery may take several weeks, even if your leiomyosarcoma was in its early stages.
Other Treatments for Leiomyosarcoma
Treatments that you might get with other types of cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, aren’t usually used to treat early-stage leiomyosarcoma. But if leiomyosarcoma has spread to other areas of your body, like your lymph nodes or other organs, your medical team may recommend chemotherapy, radiation, or targeted therapy.
Chemotherapy uses medications to treat cancer. These drugs may be pills or injections. Because chemotherapy enters your bloodstream and travels throughout your body to destroy cancer cells, they're especially helpful for cancer that has spread. Doctors can use chemo on an existing cancer or to help prevent cancer from returning.
Chemotherapy can cause side effects, but there are often treatments to ease those side effects (for example, medications to ease nausea). Though most side effects go away after you stop chemotherapy, some can be long lasting.
Radiation therapy uses radiation to kill cancer cells. The type of radiation you get depends on the location of your tumor. Radiation usually involves putting radioactive material in a medicinal dose near your tumor. Radiation can cause long-term side effects (for example, bladder and bowel problems), so ask your doctor what problems you may have afterward and what treatments ease those side effects.
Targeted therapy is the use of drugs that target and change cancer cells. While doctors can use these medications along with chemotherapy, they aren’t the same because they don’t affect healthy cells. Targeted therapy is often used to treat cancers that are more advanced and may be particularly helpful when other treatments don’t work.
Clinical Trials for Leiomyosarcoma
If you have late-stage leiomyosarcoma that hasn’t responded to other treatments, your doctor may recommend you participate in a clinical trial to test new treatments. Talk to your cancer doctor about whether they’re a good choice for you.
