The survival benefit of radiotherapy in localized primary adult rhabdomyosarcoma.

Aim: To evaluate the role of radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of localized primary adult rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). Methods: This retrospective study identified 62 consecutive adult patients with localized primary RMS from January 2000 and July 2016. Local failure‐free survival (LFFS), distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression models were fit to assess the ability of patient characteristics to predict survival. Results: With a median follow‐up of 33 months (range, 6–195 months), the 5‐year LFFS, DMFS and OS of all patients were 64.0%, 50.0% and 45.0%, respectively. RT was administered to 28 patients (45.2%). Patients who received RT had a higher 5‐year LFFS (81.7% vs 47.2%), 5‐year DMFS (59.4% vs 43.1%) and 5‐year OS (57.1% vs 34.8%) compared with patients who did not received RT. In mulitvariate analysis, RT retained significance as an independent predictor of improved LFFS [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.282; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.095–0.838; P = 0.023], DMFS (HR = 0.289; 95% CI, 0.125–0.991; P = 0.004) and OS (HR = 0.334; 95% CI, 0.153–0.727; P = 0.006). Conclusions: RT significantly reduced local recurrence, distant metastasis and tumor mortality compared with no radiotherapy for localized primary adult RMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]