Prognostic factors in children with head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma: A 12-year retrospective study

To identify possible prognostic factors in children with head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS).

A total of 98 patients with head and neck RMS were enrolled in this retrospective study from February 2005 to September 2017. Prognostic factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis using Cox's proportional hazards model. Survival curves were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method.

At the study closing date, there were 60 patients alive, 37 patients died, one patient was lost to follow-up, and 47 patients relapsed. The median disease-specific survival was 60.00 ± 25.36 months, and the overall survival (OS) rate was 61.9%. Complete remission was associated with a longer disease-specific survival (86.6%) compared with partial remission (6.7%). In addition, patients with age >3 years had better OS rate (69.0%) compared with age ≤3 years (42.3%). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that chemotherapy efficacy and age were prognostic factors of disease-specific survival.

Improvement in outcome was obtained with comprehensive treatment for head and neck RMS. Both chemotherapy efficacy and age of patients were prognostic factors for children with head and neck RMS, which provide some valuable information for further treatment.