Alveolar Soft Part Sarcoma of the Extremity: Case Report and Literature Review

Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), a rare soft tissue sarcoma in children and adolescents, carries a poor prognosis. ASPS is an aggressive tumor of controversial histogenesis that, unlike other soft tissue sarcomas, tends to metastasize to the brain. A 9-year-old boy presented to our outpatient clinic in April 2009 with a chief complaint of a large painless mass in the left thigh whose size had increased significantly over the past 10 months. After staging the tumor, we performed open biopsy; the diagnosis was ASPS and he underwent wide local excision. In the course of 4-year follow-up by clinical and imaging studies, there was no evidence of early tumor recurrence or metastasis. Complete surgical resection is the treatment of choice in patients with ASPS.