Overview of Sarcomas in the Adolescent and Young Adult Population

Abstract

Based on the data of the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Section of the National Cancer Institute (SEER) program, soft tissue and bone sarcomas account for about 1% of all new malignancies diagnosed in the United States each year. However, there are numerous different histologic types, and any given type of sarcoma is extremely rare. Determining the incidence of sarcomas by age and type is difficult due to the limited data reported. The SEER program collects data regarding age but only limited data on histology, while most series reported in the literature include either adults or pediatric patients, but rarely both. In an effort to estimate the frequency and absolute numbers of different sarcomas in the adolescent and young adult population, the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC) tumor registry was queried for all soft tissue sarcomas from 1990 through 2003, and all bone sarcomas from 1990 through 2002. Based on this query, an overview of sarcomas that occur predominantly in the adolescent and young adult (AYA) population is presented. These sarcomas include rhabdomyosarcoma, synovial sarcoma, neurogenic sarcoma, epithelioid sarcomas, alveolar soft parts sarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and osteosarcoma. Using the percentages for occurrence of each histologic type determined from the MDACC database, and the SEER estimate of overall sarcoma incidence, an estimate of the number of new cases in 2004 for the predominant histologic types occurring in the AYA population are presented. Also reviewed are the chromosomal translocations that occur frequently in sarcomas presenting in the AYA population.

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Incidence and Trends of Soft Tissue Sarcoma Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States, 1995–2008

“…For example, rhabdomyosarcoma occurs much more frequently among children, especially those under 5 years old, than among AYAs; 3 synovial sarcoma occurs more frequently among young adults aged 19-29 than among those younger or older; 4 and leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, and fibrous histiocytoma are less predominant among AYAs than those aged 30 and older. 5 Race and gender variations in STS incidence have been reported previously, with studies finding that blacks have higher incidence rates of STS than whites and other races, 1 and males have slightly higher incidence than females. 1,6 It is known that AYAs with cancer have not received adequate attention in many aspects of the cancer control spectrum as compared with pediatric and adult cancer patients.…”

“…1 This study also revealed that Hispanic males and females had significantly higher liposarcoma rates than other racial/ethnic groups. Liposarcoma is one of the common histological types of adult STS, 5 but is rare in children. 3,5 While white males and females tended to have higher incidence of synovial sarcoma than blacks and Hispanics, the difference was significant only when comparing white females with black females (rate ratio: 1.45; 95% CI: 1.07, 2.01).…”

Poor Treatment Outcome of Neuroblastoma and Other Peripheral Nerve Cell Tumors May be Related to Under Usage of Radiotherapy and Socio-Economic Disparity: A US SEER Data Analysis

“…Fig. 3 shows that this under usage of RT is most evident among the adult patients when the radiation side effects are expected to be less severe compared with younger patients (Miralbell et al, 2002;Cohen et al, 2005;Herzog, 2005).…”

Unusual presentation of poorly differentiated primary pulmonary synovial sarcoma (PD‐PPSS) diagnosed by EBUS‐TBNA with cytogenetic confirmation—A diagnostic challenge

“…importantly has higher diagnostic yield (71%-100%) 5,6 with acquisition of material for the cell block; the cell block is used for ancillary studies in cases with poorly differentiated morphology with morphologic and phenotypic overlap, similar to our case. 5,6 DALAL ET AL.…”