Sarcomas are cancers that develop in the supportive tissues of the body such as muscle, bone, fat and fibrous tissue.

Desmoplastic small round cell sarcoma (DSCRT) is a rare form of sarcoma which develops in fibrous tissue. It has only recently been recognised as a specific type of cancer. It usually occurs in teenagers or young adults and is more common in men than women. The tumour occurs most commonly in the abdomen and it has a tendency to spread along the peritoneal surface (the peritoneum is the membrane lining the inside of the abdominal cavity).

One of the main characteristics of this type of tumour is the production of a lot of fibrous tissue (which is like scar tissue) which causes the tumour to stick to surrounding organs.

The usual symptoms of DSCRT are abdominal swelling and discomfort. The main treatment of DSCRT is chemotherapy. A number of different drugs have been found to be helpful including doxorubicin and ifosfamide.

Surgery is sometimes used to remove as much of the tumour as possible (although because of the way it spreads it usually impossible to remove all of the growth). Surgery may be done either before or after chemotherapy.

Sometimes chemotherapy and surgery are followed by radiotherapy to reduce the chances of the cancer recurring.