Soft tissue sarcomas in infancy and childhood

Thirty‐one soft tissue sarcomas in children were studied. The majority of these tumors occurred between the ages of 6 and 10; there were 18 boys and 13 girls. Three main histologic types were encountered, 14 children had fibrosarcoma, 13 rhabdomyosarcoma, 2 had solitary malignant schwannoma, and in 2 the histogenetic origin could not be determined. Head and neck region was found to be the most common anatomical site, and 16 of 31 patients had their primary tumors in this region. In the rhabdomyosarcoma group of the 11 eligible patients, 6 lived free of disease for 5 years; in the fibrosarcoma group of the 12 eligible patients, 6 lived for 5 years or more. Both children with solitary malignant schwannoma are living. It is proposed that rhabdomyosarcoma in children be treated by combining irradiation, chemotherapy, and surgery while fibrosarcoma should be treated by excision alone. Furthermore, it is also proposed that, when the histogenetic type of a tumor can not be determined, these children be treated as having rhabdomyosarcoma.