Rabdomyoma

Rhabdomyoma is a rare, completely benign tumor. It is a variant of rhabdomyosarcoma. Both tumors originate in the mesenchyme, specifically in the striated muscle.^[1]

Distribution[edit | edit source]

Cardiac rhabdomyoma

The tumor can appear prenatally or postnatally. We therefore distinguish 2 forms:

adult;
fetal.

According to the location of the tumor, we distinguish 2 types:

cardiac (in the heart), may occur in connection with tuberous sclerosis or alone;
extracardiac (soft tissues), head, neck.

Macroscopy[edit | edit source]

The tumor typically occurs in children under 1 year of age. Macroscopically, they appear as multiple bright nodes in the myocardium that pass into the heart cavities.

Microscopy[edit | edit source]

Microscopic image of fetal rhabdomyoma

In the microscope we see large cells with a large cytoplasm full of glycogen vacuoles, between the vacuoles there are thin strips of cytoplasm between the nucleus and the cell membrane - the so-called spider cells. In addition, we detect actin and desmin in tumor cells, which proves that the tumor cells have a muscular origin. ^[1]