Orbital metastasis in patients with rhabdomyosarcoma: case series and review of the literature.

We present 3 cases of children who developed recurrent rhabdomyosarcoma with metastases to the orbit and review the medical literature. Eight additional cases have previously been reported. Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma was diagnosed in 7 cases. All 11 patients had stage 3 or 4 tumors at diagnosis, but none had orbital involvement initially. The mechanism of orbital recurrence is hematogenous in nature. Ten of the patients died; 7 of them succumbed with progressive disease within 6 months of the orbital recurrence.