Askin's tumor is a rare, primitive
which arises from the
soft tissue
Soft tissue is all the tissue in the body that is not hardened by the processes of ossification or calcification such as bones and teeth. Soft tissue connects, surrounds or supports internal organs and bones, and includes muscle, tendons, ligam ...
s of the
chest wall
The thoracic wall or chest wall is the boundary of the thoracic cavity.
Structure
The bone, bony human skeleton, skeletal part of the thoracic wall is the rib cage, and the rest is made up of muscle, skin, and fasciae.
The chest wall has 10 lay ...
, particularly of the paravertebral region.
It was first described by Askin et al. in 1979. Askin's tumor is now recognized as part of the Ewing's sarcoma family of tumors.
This
neoplasm
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
tended to recur locally, but did not seem to disseminate as widely as some of the other small cell tumors of childhood such as
rhabdomyosarcoma
Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) is a highly aggressive form of cancer that develops from mesenchymal cells that have failed to fully differentiate into myocytes of skeletal muscle. Cells of the tumor are identified as rhabdomyoblasts.
There are four subt ...
or
neuroblastoma
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue. It most frequently starts from one of the adrenal glands but can also develop in the neck, chest, abdomen, or spine. Symptoms may include bone pain, a lump in the ...
.
References
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Tumour of the respiratory system