Sarcoma Clinical Programs

​​​The Sarcoma Site Group at Princess Margaret is housed in a state-of-the-art facility that has the capacity to provide timely medical, radiation and surgical oncology care to people with bone and soft-tissue sarcomas.

We were one of the first groups in Canada to use intensity-modulated radiotherapy, a highly conformal radiotherapy approach, and have since coupled this technology with daily online 3-D image guidance to achieve targeted treatment to a localized area with precision and accuracy, while avoiding surrounding healthy tissue.​

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Canadian Sarcoma Research and Clinical Collaboration

The Canadian Sarcoma Research and Clinical Collaboration (CanSaRCC) is a group of physicians, scientists and other health care providers across Canada who have joined together to form a team to facilitate interdisciplinary scientific collaborations and perform clinical and translation research in sarcoma. UHN Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is the site lead of CanSaRCC.

Our vision is to ameliorate the outcome for patients with sarcoma, by improving our understanding of the biology, treatment options and patient impact for sarcoma.

Our mission is to develop a comprehensive bioinformatics national network that will capture high quality data, linked to a biorepository for quantity and quality research and survey.


Learn more about the Canadian Sarcoma Research and Clinical Collaboration »

Image-Guided & Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy

As part of one of the largest radiation medicine programs in Canada, the Princess Margaret offers comprehensive Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) programs, including leadership in the teaching of best-practices in these clinical approaches.

IGRT and IMRT are advanced modes of high-precision radiotherapy that offer highly conformal radiotherapy that can selectively target areas of a volume and avoid treating vulnerable regions. Treatment is carefully planned by using 3-D computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MRI) images in combination with computerized dose calculations that determine the dose intensity pattern that will best conform to the tumor shape.

The sarcoma site group was one of the first to implement both IMRT and daily online 3D IGRT in a research platform that later became clinical. 

Metastatic Bone Disease

Our orthopedic surgeons serve as consultants to all other site groups and the palliative radiation oncology program to offer care for people with metastatic bone disease and pathologic fractures.

Princess Margaret’s Radiation Medicine Program has developed a new technology to streamline the radiotherapy planning and treatment process of metastatic bone disease and pathologic fractures. Working together with the sarcoma group’s orthopaedic surgeons, radiation oncologists are able to deliver treatment in only a single 30-40 minute visit.

This novel process hinges on the ability to use imagines from Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) enabled treatment unit for real-time target definition, planning and alignment purposes purpose.

The real-time CBCT planning and treatment approach is particularly valuable for patients receiving a single fraction of radiotherapy and for those who have significant distances to travel.

Metastatic Disease

People with metastatic disease are often seen in consultation with medical oncologists to discuss the role of chemotherapy. In addition, these patients may be eligible for clinical trials examining novel combinations of chemotherapy or new targeted drugs.

Molecular Targeted Drug Therapy

Gastrointestinal stromal tumour is a rare form of sarcoma for which imatinib is the treatment of choice in patients at high risk of recurrence. There are also other clinical trials available investigating the role of new targeted drugs in patients with other forms of advanced sarcoma.

Reconstructive & Plastic Surgery

As a division of the Princess Margaret Surgical Oncology Department, the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgical Oncology program is a centre of excellence for the repair and restoration of both function and appearance using state-of-the-art techniques. Our reconstructive surgical group has pioneered innovative reconstructive surgical therapies at the University Health Network.

Our reconstructive surgeons work as part of the surgical team with inter-professional site groups to provide timely access and compassionate, top-quality care to people with cancer and cancer survivors. In many cases, reconstructive surgery is done simultaneously with primary surgical cancer treatment, where appropriate.

Learn more about the Reconstructive & Plastic Surgery »

https://www.uhn.ca/PrincessMargaret/Health_Professionals/Programs_Departments/Breast/Pages/clinical_programs.aspx
https://www.uhn.ca/PrincessMargaret/Education/Continuing_Education_Programs/Pages/continuing_education_programs.aspx
Last reviewed: 10/1/2023
Last modified: 10/30/2023 12:05 PM
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