New studies led by a UC Davis oncologic surgeon suggest that determination of appropriate treatment for soft-tissue sarcomas should be made with consideration of variant factors, including tumor size, location, grade and depth. Robert Canter, an assistant professor of surgery, said that even though the term "sarcoma" encompasses a broadly heterogeneous group of diseases, soft-tissue sarcomas are often lumped together because they are rare. "Our work shows that in order to improve outcomes, we need to think of and treat sarcomas as distinct rather than as just one disease," said Canter, who was the lead author of the studies evaluating data for more than 2,000 patients with low-grade, soft-tissue sarcomas.