Sarcomas occur when the DNA in a patient’s cells develops mutations that disrupt the cellular instructions that would determine the growth rate and subsequent death in normal cells. Cancer cells grow at a much higher rate than normal cells, producing an aggressive primary tumor mass that invades and destroys adjacent normal tissues and cells, resulting in cellular and tissue death, or necrosis. 

The primary tumor represents the starting point for a malignant tumor. As the primary tumor grows larger, it sends out aggressive metastatic cancer cells through the vascular system to the heart, lungs, skeleton, and organs. These metastatic cells find a home in their new location, enlarging and causing pain and dysfunction as the metastasis invades its new location.