The impact of age on outcome of embryonal and alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma patients. A multicenter study.

BACKGROUND The prognosis of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) in children and adolescents has improved since the introduction of multi-agent chemotherapy. However, outcome data of adults with RMS are scarce. This multicenter retrospective study investigated the effect of age on outcome of RMS. PATIENTS AND METHODS Data were collected from three Dutch University Medical Centers between 1977-2009. The effect of age and clinical prognostic factors on relapse-free and disease-specific survival (DSS) were analyzed. RESULTS Age as a continuous variable predicted poor survival in multivariate analysis. Five-year DSS was highest for non-metastatic embryonal RMS, followed by non-metastatic alveolar RMS and was poor in metastatic disease. Higher age correlated with unfavorable histological subtype (alveolar RMS) and with metastatic disease at presentation in embryonal RMS. In non-metastatic embryonal RMS and in all alveolar RMS, higher age was an adverse prognostic factor of outcome. CONCLUSION This study indicates that age is a negative predictor of survival in patients with embryonal and alveolar RMS.