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Suspicious spots on the lungs do not behave like metastases of rhabdomyosarcoma

Date:
February 14, 2019
Source:
Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology
Summary:
Small spots on CT scans of the lungs of children with muscle cancer do not have an adverse effect on survival according to an international research team. This conclusion has direct consequences for the treatment of the disease.
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Rhabdomyosarcoma is a malignant soft tissue tumor in the muscle tissue of children and adolescents. About 20 children are diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma per year in the Netherlands. "Metastases in these children are often found in the lungs," says professor Hans Merks of the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, who led the study. "We can detect those metastases on CT scans of the lungs. In addition to the easily recognizable metastases, these CT scans regularly show small spots on the lungs. We did not know if these were metastases until now."

To find out what these small spots mean, the team re-examined all CT scans in a large European study of more than 300 children with rhabdomyosarcoma. About 1 in 5 children had these small spots on the lungs. The future prospects of the children with small spots turned out to be just as good as those of children without abnormalities on their lung CT.

"This is good news," says Merks. "It means that these children do not need to be treated with extra strong medicines that are potentially harmful to the heart; they also do not need to be treated for longer or need radiation on their lungs, as is the case when children have larger lung metastases."

Since the chances of survival are high for children with rhabdomyosarcoma, this is important news. A more aggressive treatment often causes problems later in life. This study shows that a more aggressive treatment is not necessary when small spots are visible on the CT scans. This increases the chance of a good quality of life without limitations for ex-patients.


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Materials provided by Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Bas Vaarwerk, Gianni Bisogno, Kieran McHugh, Hervé J. Brisse, Carlo Morosi, Nadège Corradini, Meriel Jenney, Daniel Orbach, Julia C. Chisholm, Andrea Ferrari, Ilaria Zanetti, Gian Luca De Salvo, Rick R. van Rijn, Johannes H.M. Merks, Amine Bouhamama, Shruti Moholkar, Susan Morris, Giovanna Orsatti, Erika Pace, Rui M.F. Santos, Joost van Schuppen, Ewan Simpson. Indeterminate Pulmonary Nodules at Diagnosis in Rhabdomyosarcoma: Are They Clinically Significant? A Report From the European Paediatric Soft Tissue Sarcoma Study Group. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2019; JCO.18.01535 DOI: 10.1200/JCO.18.01535

Cite This Page:

Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. "Suspicious spots on the lungs do not behave like metastases of rhabdomyosarcoma." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 14 February 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190214115524.htm>.
Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. (2019, February 14). Suspicious spots on the lungs do not behave like metastases of rhabdomyosarcoma. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190214115524.htm
Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology. "Suspicious spots on the lungs do not behave like metastases of rhabdomyosarcoma." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190214115524.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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