Stages By Mayo Clinic Staff The stage describes how much cancer there is and how far it has spread. Soft tissue sarcomas range from stages 1 through 4. A lower stage generally means the cancer is more limited. A higher stage means it is more advanced or has spread to other parts of the body. Healthcare professionals determine the cancer's stage using several pieces of information, commonly summarized as TNM grade. TNM stands for: Tumor: The size of the primary tumor. Node: Whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes. Metastasis: Whether the cancer has spread to distant parts of the body. The grade describes what the cancer cells look like under the microscope. The staging system divides sarcomas into 3 grades, 1 to 3. Low-grade tumors tend to be slow-growing and slower to spread. They often have a better outlook, called prognosis, than higher-grade tumors. Staging isn't identical for every sarcoma. The tumor's location and type matter, and bone sarcomas have their own staging considerations. So a person's sarcoma can't necessarily be assigned a stage based on tumor size alone. Both tumor grade and stage can help your care team determine the most appropriate treatment. Request an appointment Diagnosis & treatmentDoctors & departments Sept. 05, 2026 Share on: FacebookTwitter Living with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS)? Connect with others like you for support and answers to your questions in the Sarcoma support group on Mayo Clinic Connect, a patient community. Sarcoma Discussions Diagnosed with sarcoma? Let's share 1102 Replies Wed, Sep 02, 2026 chevron-right What treatments did you have for angiosarcoma? 10 Replies Tue, Sep 01, 2026 chevron-right FS-DFSP (Fibrosarcomatous dermatofibrosarcoma): Anyone else? 55 Replies Mon, Aug 31, 2026 chevron-right See more discussions Show references Folpe AL, et al. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, and atypical fibroxanthoma/pleomorphic dermal sarcoma. In: Enzinger and Weiss's Soft Tissue Tumors. 8th ed. Elsevier; 2027. https://www.clinicalkey.com. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Ryan CW, et al. Clinical presentation, diagnostic evaluation, and staging of soft tissue sarcoma. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. NCI dictionary of cancer terms. National Cancer Institute. https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Gebhardt MC. Surgical resection of primary soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/search. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. DeVita VT Jr, et al., eds. Soft tissue sarcomas. In: DeVita, Hellman, and Rosenberg's Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 12th ed. ProQuest Ebook Central. Wolters Kluwer; 2023. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026 Soft tissue sarcoma. 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Stages of soft tissue sarcomas. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/soft-tissue-sarcoma/detection-diagnosis-staging/staging.html. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Survival rates for soft tissue sarcomas. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/soft-tissue-sarcoma/detection-diagnosis-staging/survival-rates.html. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Bone cancer. American Cancer Society. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/bone-cancer.html. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Cancer stat facts: Soft tissue including heart cancer. National Cancer Institute. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/soft.html. Accessed Aug. 25, 2026. Carlson LE, et al. The Society for Integrative Oncology-American Society of Clinical Oncology joint guidelines on integrative therapies for symptom management — Overview and key recommendations. Journal of Integrative and Complementary Medicine. 2024; doi:10.1089/jicm.2024.0452. Ami TR. Allscripts EPSi. Mayo Clinic. April 5, 2023. Mowery YM, et al. Safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab, radiation therapy, and surgery versus radiation therapy and surgery for stage III soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity (SU2C-SARC032): An open-label, randomised clinical trial. The Lancet. 2024; doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01812-9. Related Intraoperative radiation therapy for sarcoma Associated Procedures Biological therapy for cancer Cancer treatment Chemotherapy CT scan MRI Needle biopsy Palliative care Positron emission tomography (PET) scan Radiation therapy X-ray Show more associated procedures Products & Services A Book: Mayo Clinic Family Health Book Newsletter: Mayo Clinic Health Letter — Digital Edition Show more products and services from Mayo Clinic Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS)Symptoms&causesDiagnosis&treatmentStagesDoctors&departmentsCare atMayoClinic CON-20344525 Diseases & Conditions Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS)