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Rhabdomyosarcoma
  Rhabdomyosarcoma
 Signs, symptoms, indicators
 


Rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive soft tissue tumor that arises from muscle cells. Incidence

It is the most common soft tissue tumor in children. The disease can occur throughout childhood and has been reported at birth. It is the fifth most common form of pediatric cancer accounting for 5-8% of childhood cancer cases.

Rhabdomyosarcoma occurs slightly more frequently in males than females. Whites are affected three times more often than blacks. Rhabdomyosarcoma usually affects children between ages 2 and 6 years old.

Treatment & Prevention
Surgery is usually the primary treatment followed by intensive chemotherapy and radiation. If the tumor is so large that surgery presents a major risk to the patient or would result in serious disfigurement or physical impairment chemotherapy and/or radiation are used to reduce the tumor's size until it can be removed more safely.

Efforts continue to identify more effective drug combinations as well as ways to reduce the amount of radiation required for children.

Prognosis
More than 70% of children with localized rhabdomyosarcoma now enjoy long-term survival. Survival rates depend significantly on initial tumor size location and whether it has spread to other parts of the body.





Signs, symptoms & indicators of Rhabdomyosarcoma:
Symptoms - Head - Eyes/Ocular  Eyes bulge not from hyperthyroidism
 A rhabdomyosarcoma near the eye(s) may cause bulging.


KEY
Weak or unproven link


GLOSSARY

Cancer
Refers to the various types of malignant neoplasms that contain cells growing out of control and invading adjacent tissues, which may metastasize to distant tissues.

Chemotherapy
A treatment of disease by any chemicals. Used most often to refer to the chemical treatments used to combat cancer cells. Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles: a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period, and so on. Most anticancer drugs are given by injection into a blood vessel (IV); some are given by mouth. Chemotherapy is a systemic therapy, meaning that the drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body. Usually, a patient has chemotherapy as an outpatient (at the hospital, at the doctor's office, or at home). However, depending on which drugs are given and the patient's general health, a short hospital stay may be needed.

Rhabdomyosarcomas (Rhabdomyosarcoma)
Malignant tumors of skeletal muscle. These tumors commonly grow in the arms or legs, but they can also begin in the head and neck area and in reproductive and urinary organs such as the vagina or bladder. Children are affected much more often than adults.




Last updated: Oct 08, 2008
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