Rhabdomyosarcomatous differentiation in a neuroblastoma: A potential pitfall in the cytologic diagnosis of small round‐cell tumors of childhood

Abstract

Rhabdomyoblasts demonstrating immunoreactivity for muscle-specific actin, desmin, and myoglobin were identified in smears obtained by aspiration from a large retroperitoneal mass in a 14-mo-old girl. Following a tentative diagnosis of a rhabdomyogenous neoplasm, retroperitoneal exploration and adrenalectomy demonstrated a stromal poor neuroblastoma with extensive rhabdomyogenous differentiation. The presence of a subpopulation of rhabdomyoblasts was not diagnostic of rhabdomyosarcoma when obtained by fine-needle aspiration from a retroperitoneal tumor composed predominantly of primitive small round cells.