Abstract
Introduction and Aims: Multimodal treatment has dramatically improved the outcome of patients with Ewing’s sarcoma. However, little is known about treatment-related complications in patients who are long-term survivors.
Method: Forty-one patients with Ewing’s sarcoma treated at the authors’ institution between 1963 and 1980 and who survived by at least 20 years were included in this study. This patient group comprises 17 men and 24 women. The mean age at presentation was 16.8 (range five to 51) years. Three patients presented with metastatic disease. The location included 14 axial, and 27 appendicular lesions. All but nine patients had chemotherapy as part of their multimodality treatment.
Results: The overall follow-up averaged 297 (range 240–430) months. All except one patient were alive at final follow-up, the latter dying of radiotherapy-induced secondary malignancy after 33 years. Five patients survived, despite developing local recurrence or metastatic disease. Only 16 (39%) patients were free of any complication. These included metastases (12%), local recurrence (7%), secondary malignancies (7%), pathologic fractures (20%), and radiation (32%), and chemotherapy-associated morbidities (20%). The complication rate in this series of long-term survivors treated prior to 1980 is surprisingly high. Current treatment advances should result in improved long-term results.
Conclusion: Even when patients with Ewing’s sarcoma survive the primary cancer, only a minority of them remain without treatment-associated morbidities.
These abstracts were prepared by Editorial Secretary, George Sikorski. Correspondence should be addressed to Australian Orthopaedic Association, Ground Floor, The William Bland Centre, 229 Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.
At least one of the authors is receiving or has received material benefits or support from a commercial source.
