Epidemiological, histological and immunohistochemical analysis of head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma in children

摘要

Introduction: Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft-tissue malignancy in the paediatric head and neck tumours. The objective of this study was to determine the epidemiological and pathological patterns of head and neck rhabdomyosarcoma in children in a Moroccan oto-neuro-ophthalmic pathological laboratory. Material and methods: The study population consisted of patients who presented with head and neck tumours at the oto-neuro-ophthalmic pathological laboratory of Rabat Morocco over a 10-year period (1999-2008). Results: Twenty-eight patients were identified for the study period among 364 head and neck tumours. The youngest case was 7 months old and the oldest was 14 years old; the median age was 5.39 years. 20 patients were male (71.42%) with a male to female ratio of 5:2. The most affected areas were the orbit in 10 cases (35.71%), the cheek in 4 cases (14.28%), the maxilla and nasopharynx in 3 cases (10.71%) each. The parotid gland and neck presented 2 cases (7.14%) each. There was 1 oral site (3.75%), 1 nasal site (3.75%), one case in the external auditory canal (3.75%) and one case in the infra temporal fossae (3.75%). Histo-logically, 24 cases (85.71%) were embryonal, and 4 cases (14.29%) were alveolar. Immunohistochemical findings highlighted positivity of desmin (64.28%), smooth muscle actin (57.89%) and myogenin (90%). Conclusion: This large study about a single institution can pretend to reflect the real incidence of rhabdomyosarcoma of head and neck in children in Morocco. The results obtained in our study are closely similar to those reported in the literature.