Rhabdo Myosarcoma

Symptoms

This type of cancer can arise anywhere in the body and the symptoms will depend on the site where it develops; in a muscle it looks like a bruise or in the nose like a bloody polyp. However, if a lump persists, it always deserves attention.

Treatment

Rhabdomyosarcoma arises from immature muscle. It is a highly malignant tumour but quite remarkable progress in its treatment has resulted from adjuvant chemotherapy. New drugs are administered after the original mass has been removed by surgery and irradiation by radiotherapy. The number of children cured has risen from a mere 15 per cent to 50 per cent.

Treatment should of course be carried out at a major centre dealing with childhood cancer. The results of treatment are best in cases where a localised tumour could be completely removed; about 80 per cent of these children are cured, whereas only 10 per cent of children who have widespread disease live more than two years.