Follow-up Care

Regular follow-up is very important after treatment for bone or soft tissue cancer. The doctor will continue to check the patient closely for several years. It is important to be sure that cancer has not come back or to find and treat it promptly if it does. Checkups may include a physical exam, X rays, scans, blood tests, and other laboratory tests.

Cancer treatment may cause side effects many years later. For this reason, patients should continue to have checkups with their cancer doctor, and should report any problem as soon as it appears.

Patients who have had part or all of a limb removed will need physical therapy. Physical therapists and doctors who specialize in rehabilitation help patients learn to do their regular activities in new ways. Physical therapists also help patients learn to use their prostheses.

Treating Local Recurrence of Sarcoma

While local recurrence of sarcoma is a frightening experience for people, physicians have a lot of success treating these patients. Local recurrence does not necessarily mean that the first treatment was wrong or inadequate, and it does not mean that the individual with the recurrence cannot be cured

Contact us!

Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Oncology
Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute
Medical Center East, South Tower, Suite 4200
Nashville, TN 37232-8774

615-343-8612
615-343-1028 (Fax)
marla.johnson@vanderbilt.edu