title: Sarcoma botryoides arising from the biliary tract of children. A case report with review of the literature.
abstract: Sarcoma botryoides (embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma) originating from the common bile duct is reported in a 4-year-old girl. Grossly, the tumor is characterized by multiple polypoid and grape-like projections into the lumen of the common bile duct and shows plate-like thickening of the common bile duct wall. On multiple cut-sections these polypoid masses are soft and light yellow white except for multifocal hemorrhage. Histologically the tumor consists of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells with a myxomatous appearance; rhabdomyoblasts with varing degree of maturation are scattered here and there within the matrix. These cells are characterized by a strap and racket shape with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and elongated cytoplasm with cross striations. The histogenesis of the tumor may be related possibly to an abnormal differentiation of the primitive mesenchymal cells toward striated muscle cells.
mesh_terms: D001650:Bile Duct Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003135:Common Bile Duct / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D012737:Sex Factors