title: Pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma at presentation: can cross-sectional imaging findings predict pathologic tumor subtype?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of the study is to determine whether there are cross-sectional imaging features of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma that are specific to the different pathologic subtypes of the tumor.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical records of 14 pediatric patients who were diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma were reviewed retrospectively. Patient demographics, including age and sex, as well as final pathologic report were obtained. The initial CT, MRI, or both obtained at presentation, prior to the diagnosis being established, were reviewed by two radiologists. We recorded tumor features including site, size, margins, local extension, and presence of metastases. Presence of calcification, hemorrhage, or necrosis as well as attenuation and heterogeneity of the tumor were also recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ten of our fourteen patients were formally diagnosed with the embryonal subtype of rhabdomyosarcoma, while three were found to have the alveolar subtype, and one subtype was poorly differentiated. There was no significant difference in the attenuation and in the heterogeneity of the tumor between the embryonal and the alveolar subtype on CT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Imaging features at presentation, such as attenuation and heterogeneity, could not correlate to the pathologic subtype of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma.
authors.affiliation: Georgia Health Sciences University, Children's Medical Center, Department of Radiology, 1120 15th Avenue, Augusta, GA 30912, United States. afranco@georgiahealth.edu
authors.forename: Arie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Kristopher Neal
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Jeffrey Roberts
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D019412:Anatomy, Cross-Sectional / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012208:Rhabdomyosarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*