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The most common soft tissue sarcoma is rhabdomyosarcoma, with over 100 cases a year in children in the UK.

 

Rhabdomyosarcoma

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The usual location is the head and neck, but other common sites are the bladder and the testes. It can however be found anywhere in the body.

The most common sign is a swelling or lump.

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Factors that increase the likelihood of this cancer include Li-Fraumeni syndrome, type one Neurofibromatosis, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, Costello syndrome, and Noonan syndrome

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For treatment, a combination of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery is likely to be used, and depending on stage, the treatment is quite aggressive.

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Rhabdosarcoma has a 5 year survival of 71%.

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The most important prognostic factor however is age.

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Younger children have much better outcomes.

If diagnosed after the age of 10, survival drops to around 50%. 

 

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