Non Metastatic Rhabdomyosarcoma in Children and Adolescents: Prognostic Factors and Survival

Abstract

Background: Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is the most common softttissue tumor in childhood. We aimed to study the prognostic factors of non-metastatic RMS in Tunisian paediatric patients. Methods: We reviewed data of paediatric patients (aged < 18 years), with histologically confirmed RMS treated in Salah Azaiez Institute for a non-metastatic RMS during 20 years. Prognostic factors were studied and survival data analysed. Results: 75 patients were included (42 males and 33 females). Embryonal RMS was the most common histologic type (72%) followed by alveolar (21%) and pleomorphic (1%). The most frequently affected sites were head and neck (43%) and genito-urinary (28%). 5-year OS and DFS were 50% and 26%, respectively. By univariate analysis, DFS was significantly correlated to chemotherapy, Radiotherapy (RT) and post-surgical RT with p=0.02, 0.003 and 0.01, respectively. No factor was significant in multivariate analysis. By univariate analysis, 5-year