Is rhabdomyosarcoma serious?

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a relatively serious disease. It is a malignant tumor and is relatively common among childhood tissue sarcomas, with boys suffering from it more often than girls. It often causes a tumor with a harder texture, which often causes skin ulcers and bleeding. If the tumor compresses the nerves, it will also show a variety of symptoms, such as respiratory disorders, pelvic masses, difficulty swallowing, etc.

Is rhabdomyosarcoma serious?

Embryonic rhabdomyosarcoma accounts for about 2/3 of rhabdomyosarcoma and is more common in children and adolescents. The age distribution shows two peaks, namely after birth and late adolescence, with an average age of 5 years old. It is common in the head, neck, urogenital tract and retroperitoneum. The course of the disease is short, and the main symptoms are painful or painless lumps, redness and swelling of the skin surface, and high skin temperature. The tumors vary in size and are hard in texture. Most of them are fixed when the patient is examined. The tumor grows rapidly and may cause skin ulceration and bleeding. Pain may occur when the tumor presses on a nerve. Head and neck masses may present with proptosis, bloody discharge, epistaxis, and swallowing and breathing difficulties. Genitourinary system tumors are manifested by bloody vaginal discharge, hematuria, and urinary retention, and a pelvic mass may be palpated with the rectal fingers. This type of disease often metastasizes to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes and the regional lymph nodes, and is often accompanied by hematogenous metastasis in the late stage.

Surgical treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma is mainly surgical resection, which includes all the muscles where the tumor is located. For embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, in addition to resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy should be combined to relieve symptoms; pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma is not effective for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Biopsy of the tumor showed good results after complete surgical resection of rhabdomyosarcoma. Only 10% of patients have rhabdomyosarcoma that can be completely removed. Even for patients with complete resection, chemotherapy and radiotherapy are necessary because rhabdomyosarcoma is highly metastatic. During surgery, a biopsy of the lymph nodes in the area of ​​the tumor is done. Complete surgical resection of rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck requires consultation with an otolaryngologist, plastic surgeon, maxillofacial surgeon, and neurosurgeon. If complete excision affects the appearance and function of the face, surgery will be postponed until the course of chemotherapy and radiation therapy is completed. Whether to undergo a second facial surgery depends on the surgical site and the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The basic requirement for surgical resection of rhabdomyosarcoma is a biopsy. The type of biopsy chosen is based on medical imaging findings, the location and size of the tumor, the patient's age and health, and the doctor's experience. The goal of complete tumor removal during surgery is to avoid a second surgery.