Clinical characteristics and the prognosis of rhabdomyosarcoma - a report from the Study Group for Pediatric Solid Malignant Tumors in the Kyushu Area, Japan.
OBJECTIVE
There have been no nationwide group studies for patients with rhabdomyosarcoma in Japan. This study aims to assess the actual state of treatments and their outcome.


METHODS
From 1982 to 1996, 79 rhabdomyosarcomas were registered by the Study Group for Pediatric Solid Malignant Tumors in the Kyushu Area. The prognostic factors and treatments were assessed based on the 5-year survival rate. The staging was done according to the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS) Clinical Grouping Classification.


RESULTS
The 5-year survival rate for all patients was 39.1 %. The survival rates for each factor were as follows, according to 1) group; 77.8 % for Group I, 51.9 % for Group II, 33.7 % for Group III, and 20.2 % for Group IV; 2) primary site: 56.3 % for the head and neck, 43.8 % for the parameningeal region, 12.5 % for the extremity, 58.3 % for the genitourinary region, and 30.5 % for the others; 3) histology: 35.8 % for the embryonal type, 36.8 % for the alveolar type.


CONCLUSIONS
Altogether, the outcome of this study was poor. To improve outcomes, a new nationwide group study for rhabdomyosarcoma, which we belong to, has just started in Japan.
Suita
S
S
Department of Pediatric Surgery, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. suita@pedsurg.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Noguchi
S
S
Takamatsu
H
H
Mizote
H
H
Nagasaki
A
A
Inomata
Y
Y
Hara
T
T
Okamura
J
J
Miyazaki
S
S
Kawakami
K
K
Eguchi
H
H
Tsuneyoshi
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome