Rhabdomyosarcoma, Childhood Cancer & SickKids^®

Rhabdomyosarcoma

most common soft tissue cancer of children
overall survival is 75%, but significantly less for children who present with metastatic disease
can occur almost anywhere in the body because it is a tumor of ‘muscle’ cells
slightly more common in boys than girls
can occur at any age from birth as well as in adults
treatment includes chemotherapy (to shrink tumor) with radiation and surgery used as well
new drugs are being used in phase I and II (experimental) protocols to determine whether they will be more effective than current ‘standard’ protocols; some of these drugs are showing some promise

Most common cause of disease-related death among children
1300 new cases in Canada each year
80% overall survival but < 30% survival for children with metastatic (stage IV) tumors, many types of brain tumors and certain leukemia’s
Leukemia’s account for 1/3 of all childhood cancers
Brain tumors account for 1/3 of all childhood cancers
Non-brain solid tumors account for 1/3 of all childhood cancers
causes of childhood cancers are generally not known, but genetic factors are thought to play a significant role in perhaps as many as 40% (though specific genes have only been identified for a small fraction of these)
Treatment for childhood cancers include chemotherapy, radiation therapy (for some) and surgery (for some)

Sick Kids Hospital

largest children’s hospital in Canada; among 3 largest in North America
treats 25% of all childhood cancer patients in Canada (65% of Ontario’s)
largest (by far) research institute in a children’s hospital in Canada and among the largest hospital-affiliated research institutes
300 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year
over 40 research labs conducting cancer research: genetics of cancer; looking for new drugs; studying long-term effects of treatment; identifying the cancer ‘stem cell’ – the earliest cells that lead to tumor formation; studies with both human tumor samples as well as modeling tumors in animals (usually mice)