Your child will probably have to return to the doctor often during chemotherapy for lab tests to look for low blood counts that could lead to bleeding or serious infection, and to be checked for other side effects of the treatment. Sometimes your child may need blood transfusions to treat low blood counts or antibiotics to treat infection.

Usually chemotherapy and follow-up testing will be done in the pediatric cancer center, but if you must travel a great distance the specialists involved in your child's care can work with your local doctor to minimize travel.

For several years after treatment, it is very important for your child to have regular follow-up exams with the cancer care team. The doctors will continue to watch for signs of disease, as well as for short-term and long-term side effects of treatment. Doctor visits will be more frequent at first, but the time between visits may get longer as time goes on.

Checkups after treatment of rhabdomyosarcoma include careful physical exams, lab tests, and sometimes imaging tests such as CT and/or MRI scans. If the rhabdomyosarcoma recurs (comes back), it is usually within the first few years after treatment. As time goes by, the risk of recurrence goes down.

If the tumor comes back, or it does not respond to treatment, your child's doctors will discuss with you the various treatment options available (as discussed in "How is rhabdomyosarcoma treated?").

You will be getting help from a dedicated team of professionals to help your child try to resume a normal life of school and play. These professionals can refer you to other local organizations for help with specific problems.

As mentioned in "How is rhabdomyosarcoma treated?", there are some potential long-term complications from the treatment of this disease, including effects on fertility and a risk of developing another type of cancer at a later time. It's important to talk with your child's doctors to understand what these risks are.

Moving on

After treatment is complete, you and your child may want to put the experience behind you as much as possible. Eventually, your child will grow up, be on his or her own, and have new doctors. But it is important that you or your child be able to give the new doctors the exact details of the cancer diagnosis and treatment. Gathering the details soon after treatment may be easier than trying to get them at some point in the future. There are certain pieces of information that your child's doctors should have, even after your child has become an adult. These include:

• A copy of the pathology report from any biopsies or surgeries.
• If there was surgery, a copy of the operative report.
• If there were hospitalizations, a copy of the discharge summaries (forms that doctors must prepare when patients leave the hospital).
• A list of the final doses of each chemotherapy drug or other drug your child received. (Certain chemotherapy drugs have specific long-term side effects. If you can get a list of these from the pediatric oncologist, this might also help any new primary care doctor.)
• If there was radiation, a final summary of the dose and field.

Last Medical Review: 09/08/2009
Last Revised: 09/08/2009