Is rhabdomyosarcoma benign or malignant?

Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor, most common among soft tissue sarcomas in children, which develops from abnormal growth of early muscle cells. children under 10 years of age account for about 50% of all cases and are classified as embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, adenoid rhabdomyosarcoma and mesenchymal rhabdomyosarcoma, but the cause of the disease is still unknown. Rhabdomyosarcoma can occur in various parts of the body, commonly in the head and neck, extremities, and genitourinary organs. Clinical manifestations are painless or painful masses at the primary site, and distant metastases are likely to occur in the middle and late stages. Transverse myxosarcoma may develop local regional lymph node metastasis, while stage IV transverse myxosarcoma may develop distant metastasis, which is mostly metastasis of tumor cells to other parts of the body through blood circulation, such as lung, liver, bone, bone marrow, brain, distant muscles or lymph nodes. At the time of diagnosis, about 25% of rhabdomyosarcoma has already metastasized distantly, with the lung being the most common site of metastasis, accounting for 40%-45%, followed by bone marrow metastasis, accounting for 20%-30%, and bone metastasis accounting for 10%. At present, the overall 5-year survival rate of rhabdomyosarcoma can reach more than 70% after surgery, chemotherapy radiotherapy and other comprehensive treatments, and the survival rate of patients varies with different risk degrees. 5-year survival rate is 70%-90% for low-risk group; 50%-70% for medium-risk group; 20%-30% for high-risk group, so rhabdomyosarcoma belongs to childhood malignant tumors with high malignancy, and once diagnosed, it needs standardized treatment and follow-up to achieve complete remission and improve prognosis.