J Korean Assoc Maxillofac Plast Reconstr Surg.
1998 Feb;20(1):69-74.
A CASE OF RHABDOMYOSARCOMA IN MASSETER, PAROTID AND MANDIBULAR AREA
Abstract
- Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in infants and children, which occurs predominantly in the head and neck. With the advent of combined surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy the prognosis for rhabdomyosarcoma has been improved significantly. A 12-year-old female was transferred to our service from the pediatrics department because of a growing mass in the left mandibular angle area for 1 month. Extraoral examination revealed a semisolid swelling 60 mm in diameter. Intraoral finding was unremarkable except for difficulty in opening the mouth. After fine needle aspiration biopsy, ultrasonogram and the MRI, the mass was tentatively diagnosed as osteosarcoma in the mandible that had infiltrated into the surrounding soft tissue. So we performed a radical excision of the mass including hemimandibulectomy, parotidectomy, excision of submandibular gland and sublingual gland with adjacent normal soft tissue. The postoperative biopsy specimen from the surgery showed the alveolar type of rhabdomyosarocoma developed in the soft tissue of the left masseter and parotid area infiltrating into the mandible. Postoperative recovery was uneventful, but the patient dies of cardiac arrest on the 44th postoperative day, which may have been a result of cancer that invaded the cardiac nerve system, but a definite cause couldn't be established through an autopsy because we couldn't get the consent of the parents. Since this case was atypical in the clinical course including diagnosis and treatment, we report it with literature review.
