Oral alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma: a case report with immunohistochemical analysis

Rhabdomyosarcomas are among the most common soft-tissue tumors in children. These tumors are derived from mesenchymal tissue with a tendency toward myogenic differentiation that probably originates from immature and highly invasive satellite cells associated with the embryogenesis of skeletal muscle. Some of these tumors are associated with high rates of recurrence and metastasis. The diagnosis is made by microscopic analysis and auxiliary techniques such as immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy, cytogenetic analysis, and molecular biology. We report a case of 28-year-old man who presented with a painless progressive swelling of gingiva since 3 months, which was gradually increasing in size without any systemic symptoms or signs of any metastatic spread. An incisional biopsy was done and histopathology reported an alveolar variant of rhabdomyosarcoma. Immunohistochemistry with panel of markers was done which showed positivity for CD99, vimentin and negative for desmin and myogenin. So the characteristic immunohistological expression was negative in present case. Hence we conclude that haematoxylin and eosin morphology and ultrastructure are needed to classify rhabdomyosarcoma and immunohistochemistry act only as an auxiliary.