Therapy and survival after recurrence of Ewing's tumors: the Rizzoli experience in 195 patients treated with adjuvant and neoadjuvant chemotherapy from 1979 to 1997.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Many papers have reported the results achieved with combined therapy for Ewing's tumors, but little is known about the treatment and outcome of those 30-40% of patients who relapse.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

In a retrospective study, we evaluated 195 patients with Ewing's tumors treated at our institution from 1979 to 1997 with chemotherapy, radiotherapy, surgery or combined therapies after recurrence.

RESULTS:

A second complete remission was achieved in only 26 patients (13.3%); 12 relapsed again and died of the tumor. The 5-year post-relapse event-free survival and overall survival were 9.7% and 13.8%, respectively; both of which were significantly better for patients who had relapsed >/=2 years after the beginning of the first treatment (14.3% versus 2.5%; P <0.001) and for patients who relapsed with only lung metastases (14.5% versus 0.9%; P <0.0005). In terms of treatment, patients treated with surgery or radiotherapy, alone or in combination with chemotherapy, had better survival rates than patients treated with chemotherapy alone (15.4% versus 0.9%; P <0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS:

The outcome of Ewing's tumor patients who relapse after combined treatment is very poor. However, these patients may be divided into two groups: those that can be cured with traditional treatments (late relapse and/or only lung metastases), and a second group of patients (early relapses with metastases in lungs and/or other sites) who gain no benefit from traditional therapies. For the latter group, multicenter studies are needed to evaluate new strategies of treatment.

• Authors: G Bacci, S Ferrari, A Longhi, D Donati, M De Paolis, C Forni, M Versari, E Setola, A Briccoli, E Barbieri
• Journal: Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology (Ann Oncol) Vol. 14 Issue 11 Pg. 1654-9 (Nov 2003) ISSN: 0923-7534 [Print] England
• PMID: 14581274 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Bone Neoplasms (drug therapy, radiotherapy, surgery, therapy)
• Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Databases, Factual
• Disease-Free Survival
• Female
• Humans
• Infant
• Male
• Medical Records
• Neoadjuvant Therapy
• Neoplasm Recurrence, Local (drug therapy, radiotherapy, surgery, therapy)
• Radiotherapy, Adjuvant
• Retrospective Studies
• Salvage Therapy
• Sarcoma, Ewing (drug therapy, radiotherapy, surgery, therapy)
• Treatment Outcome