Soft tissue metastasis

Abstract

The spread and growth of metastases are the most dramatic manifestations of malignancy in cancer. According to Liotta and Stetler-Stevenson, 30 % of patients with newly diagnosed solid tumors (except skin neoplasms other than melanoma) have detectable secondary lesions, and 60 % have microscopic or macroscopic metastases as early as the time of primary tumor treatment [30]. Although soft tissues, and in particular skeletal muscles, represent about 40 % of the total body weight, they are infrequently affected by primary tumors and even more rarely by metastatic lesions. Rates of 1 % of all neoplasms, but 6 % in patients under the age of 25, are reported [7, 8, 64]. The low incidence of these primary and secondary tumors is probably responsible for the poor understanding of their natural evolution [64]. Since radiologists are infrequently involved in diagnostic work-up of skin lesions, except for melanoma, cutaneous metastases are discussed only briefly in this chapter.