Rhabdomyosarcoma develops in the skeletal or voluntary muscles of the body – the muscles we can control ourselves.

There an average of 112 cases of rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed every year in England.

It makes up 2.84% of all soft tissue sarcomas, and about 0.04% of all cancers.

There are slightly more males diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma.

There are four main types of rhabdomyosarcoma:

• Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (occurs mainly in older children and teenagers)
• Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (occurs mainly in young children)
• Pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma (occurs mainly in adults)
• Spindle cell / sclerosing rhabdomyosarcoma (a rare variant of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma that can affect adults and children)

We have information on each main type of rhabdomyosarcoma below.