What is the difference between sarcoma and carcinoma cancers?

According to my Medical dictionary these are the definitions:
Carcinoma- A malignant epithelial neoplasm that tends to invade surrounding tissue and to metastasize to distant regions of the body. Carcinomas develop most frequently in the skin, large intestine, lungs, stomach, prostate, cervix, or breast. The tumor is firm, irregular, and nodular, with a well-defined border. Microscopically, the cells are characterized by anaplasia, abnormal size and shape, disproportionately large nuclei, and clumps of nuclear chromatin.

Sarcoma- A malignant neoplasm of the soft tissues arising in fibrous, fatty, muscular, synovial, vascular, or neural tissue, usually first manifested as a painless swelling. About 40% of sarcomas occur in the lower extremities, 20% in the upper extremities, 20% in the trunk, and the re3st in the head, neck, or retro-perineum. The tumor is composed o cells in a connective tissue matrix and may be highly invasive. Trauma probably does not play a role in the cause, but sarcomas may arise in burn or radiation scars. Small tumors may be managed by local excision and postoperative radiotherapy, but bulky sarcomas of the extremities may require amputation followed by irradiation for local control and combination chemotherapy to eliminate small foci or neoplastic cells.

I know this is long but I hope it helps.

Sarcoma: One of a group of tumors usually arising from connective tissue. Most sarcomas are malignant. Many types are named after the type of cell, tissue, or structure involved, as in angiosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, liposarcoma,and osteosarcoma.

Carcinoma: Cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover body organs. For example, carcinoma can arise in the breast, colon, liver, lung, prostate, and stomach.

A sarcoma is a cancer of the connective or supportive tissue (bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels).
Carcinoma: It is malignant by definition: carcinomas invade surrounding tissues and organs, and may spread to lymph nodes and distal sites (metastasis).
Please see the web pages for more details on Sarcoma and Carcinoma.

Carcinoma is usually malignant, however, Carcinoma in Situ (CIS) is a pre-malignant condition.

Sarcoma is a cancer of either connective or supportive tissue for example, muscles, cartilage, fat, bone etc

The difference between Sarcoma and Carcinoma cancers are-

SARCOMA-

A general term for any cancer of the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissues. Sarcomas can be divided into soft tissue andbone (osteogenic) sarcomas. Liposarcomas (cancerous tumors of fat tissue) are an example of soft tissue sarcomas, while Ewing's sarcoma is considered an osteogenic sarcoma. It is a malignant tumor arising from connective tissues.

CARCINOMA-

A malignant tumor that arises from epithelial cells, which line the internal and external surfaces of the body. Carcinomas are most commonly found in the lining of body organs, such as the breast, prostate, lung, stomach, or bowel. Most human cancers are carcinomas. It is an invasive malignant tumor derived from epithelial tissue that tends to metastasize to other areas of the body.

SARCOMA
A cancer of the bone, cartilage, fat, muscle, blood vessels, or other connective or supportive tissue.

more details about sarcoma =
http://www.cancer.gov/search/results.asp...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcoma


CARCINOMA (KAR-sih-NOH-muh)
Cancer that begins in the skin or in tissues that line or cover internal organs.

more details about carcinoma =
http://www.cancer.gov/Templates/db_alpha...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinoma