Rhabdomyosarcoma in childhood: a retrospective analysis of 190 patients treated at a single institution.

OBJECTIVES The study goal was to retrospectively review the treatment results of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma and identify prognostic factors that affect treatment outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS The records of 190 patients with childhood rhabdomyosarcoma treated between January 1991 and December 1999 were reviewed. The data were analyzed for clinico-epidemiological factors and the impact of potential prognostic factors on failure-free survival. Factors evaluated were age, gender, histology type, primary site, tumor size, Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS) group, surgical procedure, and the use of radiation treatment. RESULTS The 5-year actuarial FFS and OS were 40% and 50%, respectively. The only significant prognostic factors as estimated by univariate analysis were histology type (p=0.01), primary site (p=0.002), tumor size (p=0.049), IRS-group (p=0.003), surgical procedure (p=0.002), and radiation treatment (p=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that histology type (p=0.02), primary site, and IRS-group (p=0.02) were the only independent prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS This analysis demonstrates that failure-free survival for rhabdomyosarcoma is dependent on several factors at the time of initial diagnosis, including histologic subtype, primary site and disease group. Our treatment results were inferior compared to IRS-studies as the patients during this period were treated on individual bases and not standardized protocol.