Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Sarcoma Clinic
The UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center offers coordinated, multidisciplinary care for children, adolescents and young adults with bone and soft tissue sarcoma. Patients have access to a full range of experts, including specialists in pediatric medical oncology, sarcoma surgery, nursing case management and others all under one roof. Located in the Cancer Center’s Pediatric Oncology Clinic, the sarcoma clinic allows for seamless care across specialties to assure the best possible outcomes for patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma. Patients also have on-site access to specially trained physical therapists, social workers, nutritionists, and other supportive care professionals to facilitate healing and survivorship.
Bone and soft tissue sarcomas represent a very rare group of connective tissue malignancies, and successful treatment outcomes require a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach. UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center offers the following kinds of care for pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients with bone and soft tissue sarcoma:
Surgery: Surgery is the most common type of treatment for sarcoma, and a variety of surgical techniques are available. Surgeries are performed by surgeons with oncologic training in the management of sarcoma and specialize in limb-sparing resections and reconstructions for bone and soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities.
Chemotherapy: Chemotherapy is often used in conjunction with surgery to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Chemotherapy may reduce the risk of relapse and improve overall survival. Chemotherapy is a mainstay in the treatment of bone sarcoma and is also often used in high-risk, high-grade soft tissue sarcoma.
Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy X-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing. It may be used in addition to the multimodal treatment of high-grade soft tissue sarcoma.
Marcio Malogolowkin, M.D.
Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Chief, Division of Hematology Oncology
Elysia Alvarez, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
Steven W. Thorpe, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
R. Lor Randall, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Orthopaedic Surgical Oncologist, Orthopaedic Surgery
Abigail Inkster, N.P.
Sarcoma Services, Orthopaedic Surgery
Yvonne Roach, R.N., B.S.N., C.P.H.O.N.
Nurse Care Coordinator
Jennifer Beane
Physical Therapist
Other Sarcoma Clinic Team Members
Scott Christensen, M.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology and Oncology
Medical Director, Cancer Care Network
Helen Chow, M.D.
Medical Oncologist, Medicine
Robert Canter, M.D.
Professor of Surgery
Shinjiro Hirose, M.D.
Pediatric Surgery, General Surgery
Arta M. Monjazeb, M.D., Ph.D.
Radiation Oncologist
Ruben Fragoso, M.D. Ph.D..
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology
Morgan Angus Darrow, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Chirag Patel
Pediatric and Musculoskeletal Radiology, Radiologist
The UC Davis Sarcoma Clinic for children, adolescents and young adults with bone and soft tissue sarcoma is held the first and third Thursday of each month at the Cancer Center, Pediatric Oncology Clinic, first floor, North Building, 2279 45th St. in Sacramento
Call 916-734-5959, for information or to make an appointment.
Our clinicians are also scientists, advancing our understanding of sarcoma and soft tissue tumors and finding better ways of treating them to improve patient outcomes. Some of our most recent research projects:
Elysia Alvarez has explored why some young adult patients with Ewing sarcoma have longer survival than others in this study.
Lor Randall examined clinical trial enrollment of adolescents and young adults with sarcoma in this study, surgical treatment of primary high-grade osteosarcoma in this study, and Ewing sarcoma of the femur outcomes in this study.
Robert Canter researched whether radiation therapy before surgery was effective for synovial sarcoma in this study, and in another study he found that many sarcoma surgeries are done by surgeons who do not specialize in oncology. The study was featured in this ASCO Post article.
Robert Canter, radiation oncologist Arta Monjazeb, and immunologist William Murphy, in collaboration with oncologists at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, discovered that combining radiation therapy with immunotherapy is effective in dogs with sarcoma, a finding that has led to human clinical trials of the same approach.