Rhabdomyosarcoma Involving Maxillary Sinus and Orbit

Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology 1994;10(2):218-224.
Published online November 30, 1994.

Yong Suk Oh;Jin Hyoung Kang;Ji Youn Han;Young Sun Hong;Hoon Kyo Kim;Kyung Sik Lee;Min Sik Kim;Seung Ho Cho;Byung Do Suh;Sei Chul Yoon

상악동과 안와를 침범한 횡문근육종 1례

오용석;강진형;한지연;홍영선;김훈교;이경식;김동집;김민식;조승호;서병도;윤세철

Abstract

Soft tissue sarcoma of the head and neck is not frequent neoplasm, accounting for less than 1% of all malignant neoplasm in the region. The histological varieties include osteogenic sarcoma, malignant fibrous histiocytoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, fibrosarcoma, tenosynovial sarcoma, angiosarcoma and chondrosarcoma. Rhabdomyosarcomas of the head and neck usually occur in children under the age of 10 years (over 70%) and rarely develop in adults over the age of 20 years. The prevalent sites of involvement include the orbit, nasal cavity, external ear, paranasal sinus and soft tissue of mouth and the primary location of tumor is considered to be one of the important prognostic factors. Before the 1960s, when surgical resection was the only method of treatment, the 5-year survival rate was less than 20%, but recently it has been greatly improved by the multimodality treatment, combining surgery with chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Here we treated a rhabdomyosarcoma woman with three cycles of high dose chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy. After the, completion of preoperative treatments, successful result of more than partial response was achieved. Three months later total maxillectomy and radical neck dissection was performed. There was no evidence of tumor infiltration in the resected tumor and regional lymphnodes but metastasized tumor cells in cervical lymphnodes were detected. Tumor cell infiltration was also found on the bone marrow biopsy to evaluate the pancytopenia which occurred during postoperative recovery. Two months later she died of secondary bone marrow failure. We think that this multimodality treatment combining pre-operative chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery might play an important role in curative resection and eyeball preservation in patients with rhabdomyosarcoma involving the eyeball.

Key Words: Rhabdomyosarcoma, Chemotherapy