Genitourinary rhabdomyosarcoma in children.

Overview

The survival rates for childhood rhabdomyosarcomas have risen from 20% to 50% with the institution of a multidisciplinary approach involving the pediatric oncologist, radiation therapist, and surgeon. Increased survival has been particularly striking in the case of genitourinary rhabdomyosarcomas, which have a more favorable prognosis than rhabdomyosarcomas occurring in other anatomic sites. By stratifying genitourinary rhabdomyosarcomas by anatomic subgroup, i.e., paratesticular, bladder or bladder-prostate, and gynecologic, insight into specific predictors of failure can be obtained. Patients judged to be high risk at diagnosis can then be selected for more intensive or novel forms of therapy.