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Types of Cancer > Bone Cancers > Ewing's Sarcoma > NCI Resources
NCI/PDQ® Patients: Ewing Family of Tumors Treatment (PDQ®)
Affiliation:
National Cancer Institute
Last Modified: August 6, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Note: The health professional version of this summary was extensively revised in July 2007. The patient version of this summary will reflect these changes shortly.
What is the Ewing family of tumors?
The Ewing family of tumors include: Ewing tumor of bone; extraosseous Ewing (tumor growing outside of the bone); primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET), also known as peripheral neuroepithelioma; and Askin's tumor (PNET of the chest wall). These tumors are rare diseases in which cancer (malignant) cells are found in the bone and soft tissues. Ewing family of tumors most frequently occurs in teenagers.
If a patient has symptoms (such as pain, stiffness, or tenderness in the bone) the doctor may order x-rays and other tests. The doctor may also cut out a piece of tissue from the affected area. This is called a biopsy. The tissue will be looked at under a microscope to see if there are any cancer cells. This test may be done in the hospital.
The chance of recovery (prognosis) and choice of treatment depend on the location, size, and stage of the cancer (how far the cancer has spread), how the cancer cells react to the treatment, and the patient's age and general health.
Stages of the Ewing family of tumors
Once one of the Ewing family of tumors has been found, more tests will be done to find out if cancer cells have spread to other parts of the body. This is called staging. At present, there is no formal staging system for the Ewing family of tumors. Instead, most patients are grouped depending on whether cancer is found in only one part of the body (localized disease) or whether cancer has spread from one part of the body to another (metastatic disease). Extraosseous Ewing has been grouped using the rhabdomyosarcoma staging system because they are both soft tissue tumors. (Refer to the PDQ® summary on Rhabdomyosarcoma Treatment for more information.) Your doctor needs to know where the cancer is located and how far the disease has spread to plan treatment. The following groups are used for the Ewing family of tumors.
The cancer cells have not been shown to have spread beyond the bone in which the cancer began or are found only in the bone and nearby tissues.
The cancer cells have spread from the bone in which the cancer began to other parts of the body. The cancer most often spreads to the lung, other bones, and bone marrow (the spongy tissue inside of the large bones of your body that makes red blood cells). Spread of cancer to the lymph nodes (small bean-shaped structures found throughout your body which produce and store infection-fighting cells) or the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) is less common.
Recurrent disease means that the cancer has come back (recurred) after it has been treated. It may come back in the tissues where it first started or it may come back in another part of the body.