Rhabdomyosarcoma

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children, occurring more in boys than girls. About 15-20% of all soft tissue sarcomas are rhabdomyosarcomas. There are four types:

• embryonal
• boytroid
• alveolar
• pleomorphic

The location of the tumor is related to the patient's age. Head, neck and pelvis are the most common sites in younger patients. In adolescents, extremity and testicular tumors are the most common because rhabdomyosarcoma has a significant rate of metastases to lymph nodes.

Treatment for extremity rhabdomyosarcoma involves adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy) and usually wide margin excisions. The local recurrence rate is very high if surgical margins are not adequate.