[Pathology of the most common malignant soft tissue tumors]

The present article provides an overview on the main pathological criteria of the most frequent malignant soft tissue tumors. Although these malignancies are only rarely observed and amount only to approximately 1% of all malignancies, their exact morphological analysis is of importance, because different therapeutical consequences may be drawn depending on the kind of the tumor and its grade of malignancy. Also, the prognosis of soft tissue sarcomas is extremely variable but is related to the morphology. Therefore, soft tissue sarcomas should be investigated very individually. Proper information of the pathologist by the clinician of each given case is necessary for a proper histological evaluation of biopsies that must be representative. It is recommended, whenever possible to excise the total of the tumor. With regard to these aspects liposarcomas, malignant fibrous histiocytomas, rhabdomyosarcomas, leiomyosarcomas, synovial sarcomas, malignant mesenchymomas, angiosarcomas, and fibrosarcomas are discussed, and their essential properties are reported.