A rhabdomyosarcoma is a type of soft tissue sarcoma.

Soft tissue sarcomas are rare cancers which develop from supportive tissues in the body including muscle, nerves, tendons and fat. There are many different types.

Rhabdomyosarcomas start from cells very similar to those found in a type of muscle tissue, called striated muscle.

There are 3 different subtypes of rhabdomyosarcoma:

• embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma - affects young children
• alveolar rhabdomyosarcomas - affects older children and teenagers
• pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma - affects adults

There is more information on rhabdomyosarcoma in children in the children's cancers section of our website, and on rhabdomyosarcoma in the sarcoma information section of our website.