Contrast-enhanced ultrasound aids in the detection of prostate rhabdomyosarcoma: A case report and literature review

Oncol Lett. 2015 Sep;10(3):1541-1544. doi: 10.3892/ol.2015.3449. Epub 2015 Jul 1.

Abstract

Prostate sarcoma is a rare malignancy with an extremely poor prognosis. The extremely low morbidity and atypical clinical symptoms contribute to a missed diagnosis. The typical features of prostate sarcoma in transrectal ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging, such as a markedly enlarged volume and irregular prostatic contours, cannot usually be found until dysuria or even uroschesis occurs, and may then be too late to treat. However, there appears to no specific tumor marker for the disease in the serum. The present study reports a case of a young male patient who was diagnosed with prostate rhabdomyosarcoma. This was, to the best of our knowledge, the first case of this diagnosis using contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) when the symptoms were not severe. In this case, the intralesional non-enhancement areas and rim-like hyper-enhancement around the lesion were considered to be the main CEUS features of prostate rhabdomyosarcoma. The present study also reviews the associated literature.

Keywords: contrast-enhanced ultrasound; prostate rhabdomyosarcoma; ultrasound.