title: Breast metastasis in adolescents with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the extremities: report of two cases.
abstract: We describe two adolescent girls with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma arising from extremities who developed bilateral breast metastasis in their clinical course. In both cases, there was widespread systemic disease at initial presentation. Although complete remission was achieved on the 25th week post-chemotherapy initiation, the first patient developed breast metastasis in addition to systemic recurrence on the 44th week and expired. For the second patient, breast metastasis was noted in addition to systemic disease at initial presentation. Aggressive chemotherapy with autologous transplant and radiotherapy were given in addition to bilateral subcutaneous total mastectomy. The patient remained in complete remission 3 months post-therapy. We postulate that adolescent females with alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma of the extremities have a high risk of developing breast metastasis in the pubertal period, and aggressive multidisciplinary treatment is indicated.
authors: Department of Clinical Oncology, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
authors: W H
authors: WH
authors: Kwan
authors: P H
authors: PH
authors: Choi
authors: C K
authors: CK
authors: Li
authors: M K
authors: MK
authors: Shing
authors: K W
authors: KW
authors: Chik
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Yuen
authors: L T
authors: LT
authors: Chow
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015413:Mastectomy, Simple; D012074:Remission Induction; D018232:Rhabdomyosarcoma, Alveolar / Q000473:pathology / Q000556:secondary* / Q000628:therapy; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous