Late Events Occurring After 5 Years in Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma: A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatr Blood Cancer

Kreimer S, Xue W, Qumseya A, Lautz TB, Shenoy A, Hiniker S, Casey D, Venkatramani R, Arndt C. Late Events Occurring After 5 Years in Pediatric Rhabdomyosarcoma: A Report From the Children’s Oncology Group. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2025 Jan;72(1):e31421. doi: 10.1002/pbc.31421. Epub 2024 Nov 6. PMID: 39502069; PMCID: PMC12503035.

Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common pediatric soft tissue sarcoma and 5-year overall survival exceeds 70%. With more long-term survivors, it is critical to understand the frequency of late events, including recurrence, second malignant neoplasm, and death, occurring 5 years after diagnosis, and the variables associated with these events. We report late events in patients enrolled on Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group and Children’s Oncology Group trials from 1997–2013 including D9602, D9803, D9802, ARST0331, ARST0431, ARST0531, and ARST08P1. A late event occurred in 2.9% of 5-year event free survivors supporting guidelines to limit surveillance for these events to 5 years from diagnosis.