ABSTRACT
Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children. We report a rare case of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the soft palate in a 32-year-old Caucasian female. Detailed histology of the tumor is described. Positive staining with desmin, myogenin and myoD1 confirmed the tumor to be embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. A genetic association between rhabdomyosarcoma, polycystic ovary syndrome and the FEM1A gene on the human chromosome is speculated upon.
Subject(s)
Adult , Desmin/analysis , White People , Female , Head/diagnostic imaging , Histocytochemistry , Humans , Immunohistochemistry , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Microscopy , Mouth Neoplasms/diagnosis , Mouth Neoplasms/pathology , MyoD Protein/analysis , Myogenin/analysis , Palate, Soft/pathology , Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal/diagnosis , Rhabdomyosarcoma, Embryonal/pathologyABSTRACT
Non-hematopoietic malignancies infiltrating bone marrow have always been a source of erroneous diagnosis. Among these, the small round cell tumors like neuroblastomas and rhabdomyosarcomas mimick the hematopoietic blasts. Several case reports of rhabdomyosarcoma mimicking acute leukemia, clinically and morphologically at presentation have been reported in the literature. To the best of our knowledge such an entity has not been reported in Indian literature. We report here one such case of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma masquerading as acute leukemia. A thorough clinical examination with high degree of suspicion on bone marrow morphology and judicious use of appropriate immunohistochemistry markers will solve many of these cases.