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Medical experts say an early diagnosis is key in treating this aggressive form of cancer

July is Sarcoma Awareness Month and one of the types of this cancer that we're highlighting is synovial sarcoma.
Credit: Vitalii Vodolazskyi - stock.adobe.com

SAN ANTONIO — July is Sarcoma Awareness Month, a time to bring attention to many deadly types of cancer. 

One of those is called synovial sarcoma, which typically presents itself as a painful lump around the knee, hip, ankle or shoulder. This aggressive cancer predominantly affects individuals under the age of 40, with a five-year survival rate for advanced patients at just 20%.

Megan Gedemer, who suffers from the condition told KENS 5, "I'm very lucky to get to be here five years out. You know, and to say that it never spread to my lungs during that time of misdiagnosis, it's very lucky."

Dr. John Charlson, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin said, "Catching it earlier means with the just statistically the odds of it being cured with treatment are higher. And we know that if we diagnose it when it's already traveled or it's metastatic or stage four cancer, then the odds of curing it are actually really low."

Despite the severity of the disease, no new or effective treatment options for synovial sarcoma have been brought to market in more than a decade.

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