[Diagnosis and therapy of soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities]

The diagnosis of unclear soft tissue tumors represents a common problem in everyday clinical practice. Magnetic resonance imaging often reveals some first information about soft tissue tumors; however, clarification of the dignity can only be achieved by histopathological examination. Most of the lesions are benign but should be treated as a malignant tumor until this can be excluded as unnecessary surgery or biopsies can complicate treatment and worsen the prognosis. These aspects in particular are summarized and discussed in this article.