Local therapy for rhabdomyosarcoma of the bladder and/or prostate without nodal or metastatic spread during the European paediatric Soft tissue sarcoma Study Group (EpSSG) RMS2005 study

  • Naima Smeulders*
  • , Florent Guerin
  • , Mark N. Gaze
  • , Timothy Rogers
  • , Sheila Terwisscha van Scheltinga
  • , Federica De Corti
  • , Julia Chisholm
  • , Olga Slater
  • , Veronique Minard-Colin
  • , Beatrice Coppadoro
  • , Ilaria Zanetti
  • , Ross Craigie
  • , Gabriela Guillen Burrieza
  • , Patrizia Dall'Igna
  • , Raquel Davila Fajardo
  • , Pei S. Lim
  • , Cyrus Chargari
  • , Sophie Espenel
  • , Ana L. Luis Huertas
  • , Alexander Cho
  • Trung Nguyen, Helen Rees, Gianni Bisogno, Hans Merks, Helene Martelli
*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Background: During the EpSSG RMS2005 trial, organ-sparing surgery (OSS) with brachytherapy (BT) became the local therapy (LT) of choice for selected patients with bladder-prostate rhabdomyosarcoma (BP-RMS). We compare this LT technique with surgical resection and/or external-beam radiotherapy. Methods: Patients with BP-RMS without nodal or metastatic spread enrolled in RMS2005 were categorized by their LT, differentiating OSS from organ-depleting surgery (ODS) and BT from external-beam radiotherapy (EBRT). Progressive disease, relapse or death were considered events for progression-free survival (PFS) and all deaths for overall survival (OS). Results: The cohort comprised 176 patients, aged 10days-21.8years (median 2.5years). Median follow-up was 6.5years (22months-12.5years): 5year-PFS was 80.3 % (95 %CI:73.6–85.5 %); 5year-OS was 90.7 % (95 %CI:85.3–94.2 %). Patients selected for surgery alone or BT with/without OSS (BT+/-OSS) differed significantly in age, tumour size and location from those offered EBRT alone or any other surgery and radiotherapy. Nevertheless, 5year-PFS was similar for the LT groups. However, 5year-OS differed significantly, being highest in patients suitable for surgery alone (100 %; by ODS in 55 %) or BT+ /-OSS (98.1 %; 95 %CI:87.4–99.7 %). Patients with local tumour progression/relapse after EBRT failed salvage: 5year-OS was 81.8 % (95 %CI:58.5–92.8 %) for EBRT alone and 85.3 % (95 %CI:71.6–92.7 %) for surgery and radiotherapy. Postponing LT until after chemotherapy cycle 7 did not significantly impact 5year-PFS or OS. Conclusions: The risk of events was similar for different LT modalities; poor salvage after EBRT significantly reduced 5year-OS. Although not feasible for all, BT+ /-OSS offers an excellent prospect of cure, the best chance of organ retention while avoiding EBRT, and may be delayed for chemotherapy responsive tumours.

Original languageEnglish
Article number100313
Number of pages11
JournalEJC Paediatric Oncology
Volume6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2025
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bladder
  • Brachytherapy
  • Event-free survival
  • External beam radiotherapy
  • Local therapy
  • Organ-depleting surgery
  • Organ-sparing surgery
  • Overall survival
  • Prostate
  • Rhabdomyosarcoma

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