Rhabdomyosarcoma in All Age Groups at the Jos University Teaching Hospital

The designation Rabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is used to describe the malignant mesenchymal neoplasm that exhibits varying degree of skeletal muscle differentiation. RMS is the commonest malignancy of soft tissues afflicting children and adolescent up until age 20. It constitutes 5-10% of pediatric malignancies, and 7-9.5% of pediatric soft tissue sarcomas. The site of origin of RMS can be one of three possibilities: myogenous; extramyogenous; and ectopic (heterotopia). This was a retrospective study of consecutive cases of RMS seen at the Histopathology Department of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, between January 2007 and December 2016. The study was aimed at analyzing RMS in relation to age, sex, site, and histological type.

Patients' information including: age; sex; anatomical site of lesion; and histopathological diagnosis were extracted from patients' records in the Medical Records Department and the Histopathology Department. Archival tissue blocks were retrieved, sectioned into 5mm slides, stained with haematoxylin and eosin, and reviewed microscopically to confirm the diagnosis of RMS and sub-classify the disease. All histologically confirmed cases were included in the study, while those with inadequate bio-data and record of topography were excluded.

Seventy (70) cases of RMS were seen during the study period. The age range was 3 months to 80 years. The mean age at diagnosis was 23.4±21.1 years. There were 40 (57.4%) males and 30 (42.9%) females with male female ratio of 1.3:1. The head and neck region was the commonest site of occurrence of RMS accounting for 27.1%.

The commonest histologic variants of rhabdomyosarcoma were the embryonal, alveolar, and pleomorphic types. More than half of this malignancy occurred in children, and the adolescent. The head and neck, extremities, and trunk in decreasing order were the commonest sites of occurrence of this tumor, with a male predominance.