Abstract:  Objective · To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of adult rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS).  Methods · The clinical and pathological data, immunohistochemical test results of 9 RMS were analyzed retrospectively.  Results · The information of 6 males and 3 females were collected in this research, whose average age was (46.89±20.09) years old. The tumors had a wide range distribution. The subtypes of histology included 6 cases of embryonal RMS, 1 case of alveolar RMS, 1 case of spindle cell RMS and 1 case of pleomorphic RMS. Immunohistochemically study showed that 6 cases were myogenin positive, 4 cases were MyoD1 positive and 8 cases were desmin positive. During the follow-up period of the 7 cases, only 2 patients survived free of tumors, 2 patients presented with tumor recurrence and metastasis after the operations, and 3 patients died of tumor.  Conclusion · In this study, embryonal RMS is the most common type, and immunohistochemistry test is helpful to diagnosis of RMS.

Key words:  rhabdomyosarcoma, adult, clinicopathology, immunohistochemistry, diagnosis, prognosis