Ewing's sarcoma of bone.

Abstract

Ewing's sarcoma of bone is a primary bone sarcoma found predominantly in patients during their second decade of life. It is a high-grade aggressive small round blue cell tumor that is part of the Ewing's family of tumors. Its exact eitiology is unknown but it commonly demonstrates reproducible staining of CD99 and translocations of the EWS gene. Historically, this diagnosis was associated with near certain metastasis and subsequent mortality. However, current management consists of extensive chemotherapy in addition to local control with surgical resection and/or radiation. As a result, survival has improved to the 55-75% range in those patients who present without known metastases. Current research aims to continue this improvement by looking further into the associated gene abnormalities and possibly targeted therapies.