Spinal cord compression: a review of 70 pediatric patients.

The authors report their experience with 70 pediatric patients with spinal cord compression (SCC) due to malignancies identified among 898 patients with solid tumors. An extradural tumor was the most frequent cause of SCC (71%); 54% of these were soft tissue sarcomas and neuroblastoma. Most intradural tumors (70%) were outside the spinal cord, 9/12 being metastatic medulloblastomas.

Rhabdomyosarcoma of extrahepatic biliary tree: initial treatment with chemotherapy and conservative surgery.

Background: The very low frequency of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) of the extrahepatic biliary tree has impeded the development of a standardized form of treatment.

Procedure: Based on the good response of embryonal RMS to chemotherapy, we used a multi-drug protocol as the initial treatment of a 3-year-old girl after obtaining adequate transparietohepatic biliary drainage. The treatment achieved complete remission.