Survival following disease recurrence of primary localized alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.

Background: Recurrences in primary localized alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (RMA) are common. Post-relapse survival is poor. We evaluated prognostic factors including relapse treatment in patients with recurrent RMA.

Malignant ectomesenchymoma in children and adolescents: report from the Cooperative Weichteilsarkom Studiengruppe (CWS).

Background: Malignant ectomesenchymoma (MEM) is a soft tissue tumor with heterologous rhabdomyoblastic components believed to arise from pluripotent migratory neural crest cells. To date merely 50 cases have been published and the knowledge about the course of disease and optimal treatment is limited.

Methods: Six patients with MEM were registered 1996-2009.

Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma with metastases confined to the lungs: report from the CWS Study Group.

Background: Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma [RME] is the most common pediatric soft tissue sarcoma. Whereas the prognosis of localized rhabdomyosarcoma has improved, it remains poor for metastatic disease.

Methods: We analyzed RME-patients with isolated pulmonary metastases [PRME] treated in four consecutive CWS-trials.

Cooperative trial CWS-91 for localized soft tissue sarcoma in children, adolescents, and young adults.

Purpose: To improve risk-adapted therapy for localized childhood soft tissue sarcoma within an international multicenter setting.

Patients And Methods: Four hundred forty-one patients younger than 21 years with localized rhabdomyosarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma-like tumors (ie, extraosseous tumors of the Ewing family, synovial sarcoma, and undifferentiated sarcoma) were eligible. Therapy was stratified according to postsurgical stage, histology, and tumor site.

Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of soft tissues and bone in children, adolescents, and young adults: experiences of the CWS and COSS study groups.

Background: Mesenchymal chondrosarcoma (MCS) is a rare tumor with a strong tendency toward late recurrences leading to reported 10-year survival rates below 50%. The recommended treatment is resection with wide margins; the effectiveness of chemo- and radiotherapy remain poorly defined. As reports about MCS in young patients are scarce, treatment and outcomes of children/adolescents/young adults in the CWS and COSS studies were investigated.

Initial patient characteristics can predict pattern and risk of relapse in localized rhabdomyosarcoma.

Purpose: Evaluation of primary tumor-, treatment-, and patient-related factors predicting relapse pattern, risk, and survival after relapse with the aim to design a risk-adapted, tumor-directed surveillance program for patients with localized rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS).

Patients And Methods: One thousand one hundred sixty-four patients with nonmetastatic RMS achieved complete remission at the end of multimodal therapy in the consecutive trials of the Cooperative Weichteilsarkom Studiengruppe (CWS)-81, CWS-86, CWS-91, and CWS-96 between 1980 and 2002 (median follow-up, 5 years). Three hundred thirty-seven of these individuals developed either locoregional, metastatic, or combined relapses.