Myxofibrosarcoma is the condition characterized by abnormal cell growth in connective tissue. It is a type of soft tissue sarcoma. As the exact cause of this particular condition is not known, there is no prevention method that can completely prevent the disease from occurring. However, various factors that increase the risk of myxofibrosarcoma can be avoided.
How To Prevent Myxofibrosarcoma?
Myxofibrosarcoma is a type of cancer-related to soft tissues. Primarily this cancer develops in the connective tissue. Connective tissue commonly affected with myxofibrosarcoma is the connective tissue that separates the muscles from the skin. The tumor may either be deep-rooted into the tissue or just below the skin. Although the complete prevention of myxofibrosarcoma is not possible as various factors including genetic variation play a major role, by avoiding the risk factors, the risk of myxofibrosarcoma can be minimized.
As this is a type of soft tissue sarcoma, thus preventive measures used in other sarcomas may more or less be applied to this particular type of cancer. It is to be noted that avoiding these risk factors does not give the guarantee that you may not develop sarcoma1. Similarly, people with the risk factors do not compulsorily have myxofibrosarcoma. Following are the various methods to prevent myxofibrosarcoma:
Avoiding Exposure To Radiations: Radiation causes genetic abnormality in the cells leading to growing them uncontrollably. The person exposed to radiation mainly because of two reasons. First, when the person is treated with another cancer through radiation therapy. Radiation therapy increases the risk of development of myxofibrosarcoma, but the person cannot do anything about it as avoiding radiation therapy may prove life-threatening2. The other reason for the increased risk of skin cancer is unprotected prolonged exposure to other harmful radiations such as solar radiations3. Exposure to solar radiation should be avoided.
Limiting Exposure To Chemicals: Carcinogenic chemicals increase the risk of developing myxofibrosarcoma. This may a form of occupational hazards. Various factories such as paint, and fertilizers, use chemicals that have the power to disrupt genetic information. Further, the person may also introduce such chemicals through pollution. For instance, a carcinogenic substance, dioxin is generated when the household wastes and industrial wastes are burnt. Large doses of phenoxyacetic acid containing herbicides increase the risk3. Thus, the person should limit the exposure to chemicals to reduce the risk of myxofibrosarcoma.
Healthy Diet: Healthy diet and healthy lifestyle provide you cells the strength to fight against the changes in the cells that transform them to malignant cells. Those foods that are known to cause cancer such as partially hydrogenated oils and artificial sweeteners should be avoided4.
Genetic Testing: Genetic factors are known to influence the incidence of myxofibrosarcoma. If any person in the family has myxofibrosarcoma or other soft tissue cancer, the risk of developing this cancer is slightly increased2. So, people who are genetically at risk should avoid risk factors associated with myxofibrosarcoma.
Prognosis Of Myofibrosarcoma
The prognosis of myxofibrosarcoma depends upon the size, grade, and location of the tumor. Myxofibrosarcoma is of two types, deep and superficial. The tumor with poor prognosis is characterized by larger size, deep-seated and high grade. The overall survival is generally linked to the recurrence of the tumor with a 5-year and 10-year survival rate of 63% and 42% respectively5. The oncogene that plays an important role in the development of myxofibrosarcoma is MET. The treatment sometimes becomes a challenge due to limited information about this condition. Advanced research in detecting the molecular basis of the progression of the disease would help in enhanced management of the disease.
Conclusion
The increased presence of various factors increases the risk of myxofibrosarcoma. Risk of myxofibrosarcoma is increased by exposure to various chemicals such as herbicides and dioxin. The risk may also be increased by prolonged exposure to solar radiations. Thus, these factors should be avoided to lower the risk of developing myxofibrosarcoma.
- https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/cancer/soft-tissue-sarcoma/prevention.html
- https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/cancer/soft-tissue-sarcoma/prevention.html
- https://www.cancer.org/cancer/soft-tissue-sarcoma/causes-risks-prevention/risk-factors.html
- https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/what-is-sarcoma-cancer/
- https://www.hindawi.com/journals/sarcoma/2012/830879/
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