Synovial sarcoma in children and adolescents

Abstract

Synovial sarcoma (SS) is a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma characterized by local invasiveness and a propensity to metastasize, affecting pediatric, adolescent, and adult populations. The peak incidence is observed in the third decade of life and SS is the most common nonrhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma in childhood and adolescence. Although pediatric and adult SS appear clinically and radiologically identical, treatment modalities may differ according to the patient's age. For many years, pediatric oncologists have treated SS as a chemosensitive tumor according to the "rhabdomyosarcoma philosophy." In contrast, adult oncologists generally treat this tumor as a poorly chemosensitive tumor and focus on local control. The authors propose an update of SS in the pediatric population and analyze their results to those obtained in adults.