Background Ewing's sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor of bone are closely related, highly malignant tumors of children, adolescents, and young adults. A new drug combination, ifosfamide and etoposide, was highly effective in patients with Ewing's sarcoma or primitive neuroectodermal tumor of bone who had a relapse after standard therapy. We designed a study to test whether the addition of these drugs to a standard regimen would improve the survival of patients with newly diagnosed disease. Methods Patients 30 years old or younger with Ewing's sarcoma, primitive neuroectodermal tumor of bone, or primitive sarcoma of bone were eligible. The patients were randomly assigned to receive 49 weeks of standard chemotherapy with doxorubicin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and dactinomycin or experimental therapy with these four drugs alternating with courses of ifosfamide and etoposide. Results A total of 518 patients met the eligibility requirements. Of 120 patients with metastatic disease, 62 were random...

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa020890

Addition of ifosfamide and etoposide to standard chemotherapy for Ewing's sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor of bone.

PURPOSE: To further elaborate on prognostic factors for Ewing’s sarcoma of bone and to document improvements in relapse-free survival (RFS) and trends in local therapy over the study period (1977 to 1993). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on a combined Gesellschaft Fur Padiatrische Onkologie und Hamatologie/Cooperative Ewing Sarcoma Study and United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group/Medical Research Council data set of 975 patients registered with the respective trial offices before the current collaborative European Intergroup Cooperative Ewing’s Sarcoma Study trial. Both groups independently undertook studies with similar chemotherapy during the period. RESULTS: The key adverse prognostic factor is metastases at diagnosis (5-year RFS, 22% of patients with metastases at diagnosis v 55% of patients without metastases at diagnosis; P < .0001). For the group with metastases, there was a trend for better survival for those with lung involvement compared with those with bone me...

Prognostic Factors in Ewing’s Tumor of Bone: Analysis of 975 Patients From the European Intergroup Cooperative Ewing’s Sarcoma Study Group

Ewing sarcoma (ES) is an aggressive sarcoma of bone and soft tissue occurring at any age with a peak incidence in adolescents and young adults. The treatment of ES relies on a multidisciplinary approach, coupling risk-adapted intensive neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapies with surgery and/or radiotherapy for control of the primary site and possible metastatic disease. The optimization of ES multimodality therapeutic strategies has resulted from the efforts of several national and international groups in Europe and North America and from cooperation between pediatric and medical oncologists. Successive first-line trials addressed the efficacy of various cyclic combinations of drugs incorporating doxorubicin, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, etoposide, and dactinomycin and identified prognostic factors now used to tailor therapies. The role of high-dose chemotherapy is still debated. Current 5-year overall survival for patients with localized disease is 65% to 75%. Patients with metastases have a 5-year overall survival < 30%, except for those with isolated pulmonary metastasis (approximately 50%). Patients with recurrence have a dismal prognosis. The many insights into the biology of the EWS-FLI1 protein in the initiation and progression of ES remain to be translated into novel therapeutic strategies. Current options and future approaches will be discussed.

Ewing Sarcoma: Current Management and Future Approaches Through Collaboration

PurposeThe US population-based cancer registry Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database provides an opportunity to evaluate the incidence and survival rates of Ewing sarcoma (ES) for the past 3 decades. This analysis reflects trends for the diagnosis of localized versus metastatic

Changes in incidence and survival of Ewing sarcoma patients over the past 3 decades: Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results data.

Purpose To improve the poor prognosis of patients with primary disseminated multifocal Ewing sarcomas (PDMES) with a dose-intense treatment concept. Patients and Methods From 1999 to 2005, 281 patients with PDMES were enrolled onto the Euro-EWING 99 R3 study. Median age was 16.2 years (range, 0.4 to 49 years). Recommended treatment consisted of six cycles of vincristine, ifosfamide, doxorubicin, and etoposide (VIDE), one cycle of vincristine, dactinomycin, and ifosfamide (VAI), local treatment (surgery and/or radiotherapy), and high-dose busulfan-melphalan followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation (HDT/SCT). Results After a median follow-up of 3.8 years, event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) at 3 years for all 281 patients were 27% 3% and 34% 4% respectively. Six VIDE cycles were completed by 250 patients (89%); 169 patients (60%) received HDT/SCT. The estimated 3-year EFS from the start of HDT/SCT was 45% for 46 children younger than 14 years. Cox regression analyses demonstrated increased risk at diagnosis for patients older than 14 years (hazard ratio [HR] 1.6), a primary tumor volume more than 200 mL (HR 1.8), more than one bone metastatic site (HR 2.0), bone marrow metastases (HR 1.6), and additional lung metastases (HR 1.5). An up-front risk score based on these HR factors identified three groups with EFS rates of 50% for score 3 (82 patients), 25% for score more than 3 to less than 5 (102 patients), and 10% for score 5 (70 patients; P .0001). Conclusion PDMES patients may survive with intensive multimodal therapy. Age, tumor volume, and extent of metastatic spread are relevant risk factors. A score based on these factors may facilitate risk-adapted treatment approaches. J Clin Oncol 28. © 2010 by American Society of Clinical Oncology

https://www.kinderkrebsinfo.de/sites/kinderkrebsinfo/content/e1676/e9032/e1758/e78199/download80263/JCO.2009.22.9864v1_160610_ger.pdf

Primary Disseminated Multifocal Ewing Sarcoma: Results of the Euro-EWING 99 Trial

The German Society of Pediatric Oncology in 1981 initiated the Cooperative Ewing's Sarcoma Study (CESS 81) using a four-drug combination of chemotherapy prior to definitive local control with surgery and/or radiation. From January 1, 1981 until February 28, 1985, 93 patients were registered at the trial office from 54 participating institutions in West Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. On February 1, 1987, 54 of 93 patients were disease-free. Using the Kaplan-Meier life table analysis, the estimated disease-free survival (DFS) rate was 60% at 36 months and 55% at 69 months. The median period of observation was 29 months, ranging from 22 months to 69 months. Twenty-one of 93 patients (23%) had local failure, 18 of 93 patients (19%) developed systemic metastases. The local failure rate was particularly high in patients treated with radiation and was reduced when radiation planning was centralized within the study based upon the extent of disease at diagnosis. Cox regression analysis of prognostic factors showed that tumor volume was a significant factor influencing prognosis. The estimated 3-year DFS rate was 80% for patients with small tumors (volume less than 100 ml) compared to 31% for patients with large tumors (volume greater than or equal to 100 ml). In patients who had surgery for local control, the histologic response to chemotherapy was analyzed on the surgical specimen and had a strong influence on survival: 79% DFS at 3 years for patients with less than 10% viable tumor (good responders) compared to 31% DFS for patients with more than 10% viable tumor (poor responders). Tumor load and responsiveness to chemotherapy are the two major factors influencing prognosis in patients with primary Ewing's sarcoma of bone.

https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1097-0142%2819880101%2961%3A1%3C23%3A%3AAID-CNCR2820610106%3E3.0.CO%3B2-M

Tom Voûte

Papers

Multidisciplinary treatment of primary Ewing's sarcoma of bone. A 6-year experience of a European Cooperative Trial.