ArticleActa orthopaedica2014
Alarm symptoms of soft-tissue and bone sarcoma in patients referred to a specialist center.
Article in Acta orthopaedica, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Diagnosis and Therapy of Soft Tissue Sarcomas: Spanish Group for Research in Sarcomas (GEIS) Guidelines.Cancers · 2025Guideline
- Cancer risk in patients with recurrent or persistent symptoms: a systematic review.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2026Review
- Neuromotor Compromise as a Presenting Symptom in Advanced Lower Extremity Soft Tissue Sarcoma: A Case Series.HCA healthcare journal of medicine · 2026Article
- Diagnostic Delay in Soft Tissue Sarcomas: A Review.Cancers · 2025Review
- Cat-scratch disease mimicking soft tissue sarcoma in a pediatric patient.Radiology case reports · 2025Article
- The Prediagnostic General Practitioners' Pathway of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor Patients: A Real-World Data Study.Cancers · 2025Article
- Article
- Conformity to Clinical Practice Guidelines at Initial Management in Adult Soft Tissue and Visceral Tumors since the Implementation of the NetSarc Network in Eastern France.The oncologist · 2019Article
- Use of Healthcare Services Two Years before Diagnosis in Danish Sarcoma Patients, 2000-2013.Sarcoma · 2019Article
- Article
- Symptom Signatures and Diagnostic Timeliness in Cancer Patients: A Review of Current Evidence.Neoplasia (New York, N.Y.) · 2018Review
- Soft tissue swelling in children: case report, differential diagnosis, and diagnostic delay.Clinical case reports · 2016Article
- Pre-referral GP consultations in patients subsequently diagnosed with rarer cancers: a study of patient-reported data.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Article
- The Danish Sarcoma Database.Clinical epidemiology · 2016Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background and purposeThe Danish Cancer Patient Pathway for sarcoma defines a set of alarm symptoms as criteria for referral to a sarcoma center. This may exclude cancer patients without alarm symptoms, so we investigated the presence of alarm symptoms (defined as being indicative of a sarcoma) in patients who had been referred to the Aarhus Sarcoma Center. PATIENTS AND
methodsWe reviewed the medical records of all 1,126 patients who had been referred, with suspected sarcoma, from other hospitals in the period 2007-2010 for information on symptoms, clinical findings, and diagnosis. Alarm symptoms were analyzed for predictive values in diagnosing sarcoma.
results179 (69%) of 258 sarcoma patients were referred with alarm symptoms (soft-tissue tumor>5 cm or deep-seated, fast-growing soft-tissue tumor, palpable bone tumor, or deep persisting bone pain). The remaining 79 sarcomas were found accidentally. "Size over 5 cm" for soft-tissue tumors, and "deep persisting bone pain" for bone tumors had the highest sensitivity and positive predictive value. Of the 79 sarcoma patients who were referred without alarm symptoms, 7 were found accidentally on imaging, 5 were referred with suspected recurrence of a sarcoma, 64 were referred with a confirmed histological diagnosis, and 3 were referred for other reasons.
interpretationDefined alarm symptoms are predictive of sarcoma, but one-third of the patients were found accidentally. Further studies on presenting symptoms in primary care are needed to assess the true value of alarm symptoms.
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