Help on pleomorphic sarcoma!!!

[Jaspreetbammi]

Hi...a brief before my question- my father (69 yrs old) was diagnosed with some tumour in chest close to heart about 4-5 months before. He was doing absolutely fine with no signs of any kind of medical problem before. Biopsy was done and a benign tumour was diagnosed. Docs said it was thymoma. Suddenly within 2-3 months only the size of the tumour grew immensly and docs recommended operation. He underwent surgery for same during which he got cardiac arrest twice but survived. Histopathology report for the tumour now says that multiple section from mass show features of a pleomorphic sarcoma with immonohistochemistry positive for S-100, SMA, vimentin, CD34 & Alpha ACT & negative for EMA, NSE, CD68, Desmin, chromogranin, synaptophysin, CK. It weighed 1075 gms and measured 18*15*9 cm. Report says section from peripheral resected margins of specimen shows tumour infiltration is free of tumour.
Would like to understand the exact meaning of pleomorphic sarcoma in simple language( not in medical terms0. Have gone through lot of articles on same but not able to understand as how the stage for this kind of cancer is determined. Going through the above report, can u pls tell me what stage is it and how dangerous it is??..Do we need to get some more tests done for any further evaluation?..if yes what all??...Docs have recommended radiotherapy and chemotherapy...how helpful are these? and are there any chances of recurrence of same?? What is the next step that needs to be taken now?? and what would/should be the treatment for this??
As patient is from india...would like to know the best Doctor specializing for its treatment here in india if any and also elsewhere in world...

Would appreciate if you can answer the above queries and also can provide/guide me with some more useful information about same. Pls reply asap and in case you require any other details from me, pls do let me know.

Thanks,

[Jaspreetbammi]

Dear Stan,

Thanks a ton for the help on the disease. The article really provided me with lot of details about same.

I also went through your profile and few more posts by you. Can imagine your state as i see my dad suffering and going through the same stage. I really admire and respect you for the courage and Will-power, that you seem to have at this stage also...which my dad has gone really weak on. I just hope he also gets the same spirit to fight and survive the disease.

Your article will really help me in encouraging my dad as i have now become more aware about it. He'll be undergoing radiation therapy soon from one of the best hospitals here in New-Delhi, India. The first sitting is on 6th Jan, 2009. Hope all goes well ahead.

I'll Pray to God that he brings this New Year with the best of health n happiness for all of us. Hope all our troubles just vanish with this ending year. God Bless!!

Regards,
Jaspreet.  

[Staschou]

Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma (NOS) was formerly known as Malignant Fibrous
Histiocytoma(MFH). The following web page (from the Liddy Schriver Sarcoma Initiative) gives you - in not too technical terms, the present write-up -

http://sarcomahelp.org/learning_center/mfh.html


As for sarcoma specialists, I do not know of any outside the USA.

I have metachronous MFH for the past 8 + years.

Let me know if you want additional resources, or have questiona.

Stan
Near Tucson, Arizona USA