oral embryonal rhabdomyosarcom in an adult addict man: a case report and review of literature

Background: rhabdomyosarcoma (rms) is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in children, but rare in adults, especially those in the middle age and older. embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in the head and neck region is relatively common, but rarely found intra-orally. a clear etiologic risk factor for the neoplastic growth of this malignancy has not been identified yet. method: here, we report a case of an adult addict patient, with locally extensive embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (erms) of tuberosity and palate, who received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but died due to the progression of the disease 15 months after the diagnosis. we also carried out an overview of previous articles reporting this sarcoma in the oral cavity through searching keywords on the following online databases, without any date limitations: pubmed, scopous, medline, google scholar, and md-consult. our search revealed only 8 articles reporting the occurrence of embryonal rms in the maxilla among adults and none of them referred to any addict patient. conclusion: the occurrence of oral erms in adults is a rare phenomenon associated with poor prognosis. furthermore, addiction can contribute to more rapid tumor growth, treatment resistance, and reduced survival through mutagenic induction, immunosuppression, and angiogenesis.