Soft-tissue masses of the locomotor system. A guide to the clinical diagnosis of malignancy.

In a consecutive series of 280 patients with virgin soft-tissue lesions who were referred to the Orthopedic Oncology Center in Lund because of suspected malignancy, 53 had lesions that proved to be sarcoma, 10 metastatic carcinoma, and 217 benign tumors or tumorlike conditions. Lipoma was the most common benign tumor. Deep site, size exceeding 5 cm, patients aged over 50 years, and tumor located proximally in the extremities increased the probability of sarcoma to 50 per cent.