Rare case of spindle cell/sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma in adult liver

Adult rhabdomyosarcoma combined with acute myeloid leukemia: A case report

BACKGROUND

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a tumor of mesenchymal origin. Secondary leukemia is a complication of previous transformation to other hematologic disorders or is a treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia secondary to cytotoxic chemotherapy or radiation therapy for other malignancies.

CASE SUMMARY

We present the case of a 36-year-old female patient who was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma and acute myeloid leukemia. Further disease progression was observed after multiline chemotherapy. Eventually, the patient suffered cerebral hemorrhage, which resulted in death.

CONCLUSION

The incidence of rhabdomyosarcoma in adults is extremely low, and secondary leukemia caused by rhabdomyosarcoma is even rarer. Secondary leukemia has a very poor prognosis and a low overall survival rate.

Epithelioid and spindle rhabdomyosarcoma with TFCP2 rearrangement in abdominal wall: a distinctive entity with poor prognosis

BACKGROUND

Epithelioid and spindle rhabdomyosarcoma (ES-RMS) with TFCP2 rearrangement is a recently discovered rare variant of rhabdomyosarcoma composed of epithelioid and spindle cells, because it shows extraordinarily adverse prognosis and is easily misdiagnosed as other epithelioid or spindle cell tumors.

METHODS

A rare case of ES-RMS with TFCP2 rearrangement was presented and English literatures in Pubmed online up to 01 July 2022 were gathered by two authors for a systematic review according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.

CASE PRESENTATION/RESULTS

We report a case of ES-RMS in an early 30s-years-old female, the neoplastic cells are remarkably immunoreactive with CK(AE1/AE3), and partially with ALK protein. Unexpectedly, the tumor shows TFCP2 rearrangement with coexistence of increased copy numbers of EWSR1 and ROS1 gene and MET gene mutation. Besides, Next-generation sequencing for genetic mutational profiling revealed frequent MET exon14 mutations in chromosome 7, most of which are C > T nonsynonymous SNV, and exon42 of ROS1 in chromosome 6 showed frequent G > T mutation up to 57.54%. In addition, neither MyoD1 mutation nor gene fusions were detected. Moreover, the patient shows high tumor mutational burden (TMB) up to 14.11 counts/Mb. Finally, as many cases of ES-RMS including our case had local progression or metastasis, we find, similar to epithelioid rhabdomyosarcoma (median survival time is 10 month), ES-RMS shows a more aggressive behavior and adverse prognosis (median survival time is 17 month) than spindle cell/sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma (median survival time is 65 month) according previous studies.

CONCLUSIONS

ES-RMS with TFCP2 rearrangement is a rare malignant tumor and easily confused with other epithelioid or spindle cell tumors, it may harbor additional gene alteration in addition to TFCP2 rearrangement, such as MET mutation, increased copy numbers of EWSR1 and ROS1 gene, high TMB. Most importantly, it may show very poor outcome with extensive metastasis.

Case Report: Pediatric Hepatic Rhabdomyosarcoma With Maximum Lifetime

Primary intrahepatic rhabdomyosarcoma is an extremely rare malignant tumor. Here, we describe a case of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the liver in a 7-year-old boy without any symptoms. Serologically, the patient showed abnormal levels of serum tumor markers and liver function. Imaging revealed a large mass in the left lobe of the liver and no lesions elsewhere. At first, the patient was misdiagnosed by percutaneous liver biopsy as having clear cell sarcoma. However, the final diagnosis was established to be hepatic embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma based on postoperative histopathology and typical immunohistochemical staining, which was positive for desmin and myogenin. For treatment, the patient received two cycles of preoperative chemotherapy, prophylactic radiotherapy, and 13 cycles of combined postoperative chemotherapy. Routine follow-ups after all treatment conducted by imaging examinations showed no sign of recurrence or metastasis over 13 months, and the patient survives more than 38 months since initial diagnosis. To our knowledge, this patient is the first with hepatic rhabdomyosarcoma to receive neoadjuvant chemotherapy (preoperative chemotherapy) combined with relative comprehensive treatment and achieve a favorable result.

Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma in a young African female

Sarcomatoid hepatocellular carcinoma is a rare primary malignant liver cancer. The pathogenesis is unclear; however, the risk factors may be similar to that of conventional hepatocellular carcinoma. We present an 18-year-old female who was admitted due to generalized tonic-clonic convulsions. On examination, we palpated a large non-tender mass in the right upper quadrant. An abdominal computed tomography identified it as hepatocellular carcinoma, and spindle-shaped cells were seen on histopathology. She was counseled on her prognosis but opted for local herbal medications rather than chemotherapy, but unfortunately passed away. We present a rare subtype of hepatocellular carcinoma in a young female which is commonly seen in males above the age of 50 years, and despite its grade and stage, overall survival is poor.