Rhabdomyoma of the Head and Neck Demonstrated by Prenatal Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

A case of fetal rhabdomyoma (myxoid type) of the head and neck demonstrated on prenatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is presented. This benign tumor of skeletal muscle is uncommon and should not be confused with its malignant counterpart-rhabdomyosarcoma. With the increasing use of ultrafast MRI, the radiologist is more likely to encounter head and neck masses in the fetus.

Nomograms of the Fetal Neck Circumference and Area Throughout Gestation

“…The branchial arches contribute extensively to the growth of the face, oronasal cavities, palate, larynx, pharynx, and neck. 6 Congenital abnormalities of the fetal neck include those associated with fetal aneuploidies (cystic hygroma 7,8 ), the presence of embryologic remnants (thyroglossal duct and branchial cleft cysts [9][10][11][12] ), primary structural abnormalities (laryngeal cysts/ stenosis/atresia, [13][14][15][16][17] proximal esophageal atresia, 18 and bronchogenic cysts 19 ), functional abnormalities (goiters 20,21 ), benign tumors (lymphangioma, 22,23 hemangioma, 24 hemangiopericytoma, 25 and teratoma [26][27][28] ), malignant tumors (neuroblastoma 29 and rhabdomyoma 30,31 ), and an extensive array of syndromes (including Schinzel-Giedion, Yunis-Varon, and Escobar syndromes 32 ). In addition, subtle soft tissue changes of the upper posterior aspect of the fetal neck have been used in the second-trimester detection of trisomy 21 (nuchal thickness 33 Currently, a relative paucity of literature exists pertaining to precise sonographic measurements of the fetal neck.…”

Metal Ion Coordination to Azole Nucleosides

“…There are two main subtypes, alveolar and embryonic, with the more common embryonic type exhibiting no diagnostic genetic changes, but often showing loss of heterozygosity of the short arm of chromosome 11, while alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma is associated with specific PAX‐FKHR translocations30. It is very rare for these tumors to occur before 1 month of age and only a few cases have been described occurring antenatally31–35. In these cases the tumor appeared as rapidly growing masses of irregular contour and solid ‘fibroid‐like’ sonographic appearance.…”

Nomograms of the fetal neck circumference and area

“…The congenital anomalies related with fetal neck and fetal nape include the anomalies related with fetal aneuploidies [increased nuchal translucency (NT), cystic hygroma, increased nuchal fold (NF)], [11] primary structural anomalies (laryngeal cyst/stenosis, atresia, proximal esophageal atresia and bronchogenic cysts), [12,13] functional anomalies (goiter), [14] presence of embryological remnants (thyroglossal duct cysts and branchial cleft cysts), [15,16] benign tumors (such as lymphangioma, [17] hemangioma, [18] hemangiopericytoma [19] and teratoma, [20] ) malign tumors (neuroblastoma [21] and rhabdomyoma [22] ), and many syndromes (Escobar syndrome, Yunis-Varon syndrome, Schinzel-Gledion syndrome [23] ). Therefore, this area always has been an important area for the examination of fetal anatomy since the first trimester.…”