Ewing's sarcoma medical therapy
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Patients with Ewing's sarcoma have many treatment options. The selection depends on the stage of the tumor. The options are surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these methods. Before treatment starts, ask your health care team about possible side effects and how treatment may change your normal activities. Because cancer treatments often damage healthy cells and tissues, side effects are common. Side effects may not be the same for each person, and they may change from one treatment session to the next.
Medical Therapy
Chemotherapy
- Chemotherapy: The treatment is to use drugs, such as cyclophosphamide, vincristine, dactinomycin or Ifosfamide to stop the growth of cancer cells either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Because almost all patients with apparently localized disease at diagnosis have occult metastatic disease, multi drug chemotherapy as well as local disease control with surgery and/or radiation is indicated in the treatment of all patients. Treatment often consists of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy generally followed by wide or radical excision, and may also include radiotherapy. Complete excision at the time of biopsy may be performed if malignancy is confirmed at that time. Treatment lengths vary depending on location and stage of the disease at diagnosis. Radical chemotherapy may be as short as 6 treatments at 3 week cycles, however most patients will undergo chemotherapy for 6-12 months and radiation therapy for 5-8 weeks.
Radiation Therapy
- Radiation therapy: This is a cancer treatment to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing by using high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation.