Abstract
Lesions that differentiate toward skeletal muscle form a distinct subgroup of soft tissue tumors. They include a small number of benign tumors and tumor-like lesions and a clinically more important group of malignant neoplasms: rhabdomyosarcomas. Although they are uncommon overall, rhabdomyosarcomas of embryonal and alveolar types, which are genetically distinct, are the most frequent soft tissue sarcomas of childhood and adolescence. Pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma occurs mainly in older adults. Spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma has two forms: the pediatric type, which is relatively indolent, and the adult type, which is a more aggressive neoplasm.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Suggested Reading
Auerbach A, Fanburg-Smith JC, Wang G, Rushing EJ. Focal myositis: a clinicopathologic study of 115 cases of an intramuscular mass-like reactive process. Am J Surg Pathol. 2009;33:1016–24.
Banerjee SS, Eyden B. Divergent differentiation in malignant melanomas: a review. Histopathology. 2008;52:119–29.
Binh MB, Guillou L, Hostein I, Chateau MC, Collin F, Aurias A, et al. Dedifferentiated liposarcomas with divergent myosarcomatous differentiation developed in the internal trunk: a study of 27 cases and comparison to conventional dedifferentiated liposarcomas and leiomyosarcomas. Am J Surg Pathol. 2007;31:1557–66.
Cavazzana AO, Schmidt D, Ninfo V, Harms D, Tollot M, Carli M, et al. Spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma. A prognostically favorable variant of rhabdomyosarcoma. Am J Surg Pathol. 1992;16:229–35.
Deyrup AT, Haydon RC, Huo D, Ishikawa A, Peabody TD, He TC, et al. Myoid differentiation and prognosis in adult pleomorphic sarcomas of the extremity: an analysis of 92 cases. Cancer. 2003;98:805–13.
Duan F, Smith LM, Gustafson DM, Zhang C, Dunlevy MJ, Gastier-Foster JM, et al. Genomic and clinical analysis of fusion gene amplification in rhabdomyosarcoma: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2012;51:662–74.
Evans HL, Khurana KK, Kemp BL, Ayala AG. Heterologous elements in the dedifferentiated component of dedifferentiated liposarcoma. Am J Surg Pathol. 1994;18:1150–7.
Fisher C. Soft tissue sarcomas with non-EWS translocations: molecular genetic features and pathologic and clinical correlations. Virchows Arch. 2010;456:153–66.
Folpe AL, McKenney JK, Bridge JA, Weiss SW. Sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma in adults: report of four cases of a hyalinizing, matrix-rich variant of rhabdomyosarcoma that may be confused with osteosarcoma, chondrosarcoma, or angiosarcoma. Am J Surg Pathol. 2002;26:1175–83.
Furlong MA, Mentzel T, Fanburg-Smith JC. Pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in adults: a clinicopathologic study of 38 cases with emphasis on morphologic variants and recent skeletal muscle-specific markers. Mod Pathol. 2001;14:595–603.
Gaffney EF, Dervan PA, Fletcher CD. Pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in adulthood. Analysis of 11 cases with definition of diagnostic criteria. Am J Surg Pathol. 1993;17:601–9.
Huh WW, Skapek SX. Childhood rhabdomyosarcoma: new insight on biology and treatment. Curr Oncol Rep. 2010;12:402–10.
Kapadia SB, Meis JM, Frisman DM, Ellis GL, Heffner DK. Fetal rhabdomyoma of the head and neck: a clinicopathologic and immunophenotypic study of 24 cases. Hum Pathol. 1993;24:754–65.
Leuschner I. Spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma: histologic variant of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma with association to favorable prognosis. Curr Top Pathol. 1995;89:261–72.
Liegl B, Hornick JL, Antonescu CR, Corless CL, Fletcher CD. Rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation in gastrointestinal stromal tumors after tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy: a novel form of tumor progression. Am J Surg Pathol. 2009;33:218–26.
Massi D, Beltrami G, Capanna R, Franchi A. Histopathological re-classification of extremity pleomorphic soft tissue sarcoma has clinical relevance. Eur J Surg Oncol. 2004;30:1131–6.
Mentzel T, Katenkamp D. Sclerosing, pseudovascular rhabdomyosarcoma in adults. Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis of three cases. Virchows Arch. 2000;436:305–11.
Nascimento AF, Fletcher CD. Spindle cell rhabdomyosarcoma in adults. Am J Surg Pathol. 2005;29:1106–13.
Stegmaier S, Poremba C, Schaefer KL, Leuschner I, Kazanowska B, Bekassy AN, et al. Prognostic value of PAX-FKHR fusion status in alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: a report from the cooperative soft tissue sarcoma study group (CWS). Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2011;57:406–14.
Stock N, Chibon F, Binh MB, Terrier P, Michels JJ, Valo I, et al. Adult-type rhabdomyosarcoma: analysis of 57 cases with clinicopathologic description, identification of 3 morphologic patterns and prognosis. Am J Surg Pathol. 2009;33:1850–9.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fisher, C. (2013). Skeletal Muscle Tumors. In: Atlas of Soft Tissue Tumor Pathology. Atlas of Anatomic Pathology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7025-0_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7025-0_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7024-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7025-0
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)