High-Dose Melphalan, Etoposide, Total-Body Irradiation, and Autologous Stem-Cell Reconstitution as Consolidation Therapy for High-Risk Ewing’s Sarcoma Does Not Improve Prognosis

• Published in: Journal of clinical oncology Vol. 19; no. 11; pp. 2812 - 2820
• Main Authors: MEYERS, Paul A, KRAILO, Mark D, HERZOG, Cynthia E, LINDSLEY, Karen L, LIU-MARES, Wen, NACHMAN, James B, SIEGER, Lance, WADMAN, Jean, GORLICK, Richard G, LADANYI, Marc, CHAN, Ka-Wah, SAILER, Scott L, DICKMAN, Paul S, BAKER, David L, DAVIS, Jeffrey H, GERBING, Robert B, GROVAS, Alfred
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore, MD American Society of Clinical Oncology 01-06-2001; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone Neoplasms - pathology; Bone Neoplasms - therapy; Child; Child, Preschool; Combined treatments (chemotherapy of immunotherapy associated with an other treatment); Disease Progression; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Etoposide - administration & dosage; Female; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Humans; Infant; Male; Medical sciences; Melphalan - administration & dosage; Neoplasm Metastasis; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prognosis; Sarcoma, Ewing - pathology; Sarcoma, Ewing - therapy; Transplantation, Autologous; Treatment Outcome; Whole-Body Irradiation; Antineoplastic agent; Ewing sarcoma; Prognosis; Stem cell; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Hematopoietic cell; Blood; Autograft; Isomerases; Melphalan; Graft; Whole body; Antimitotic; High dose; Human; DNA topoisomerase (ATP-hydrolysing); Enzyme; Etoposide; Enzyme inhibitor; Malignant tumor; Radiotherapy; Consolidation treatment; Podophyllotoxine derivatives; Alkylating agent; Chemotherapy; Combined treatment; Bone
• ISSN: 0732-183X; 1527-7755
• DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2001.19.11.2812

To determine whether consolidation therapy with high-dose melphalan, etoposide, and total-body irradiation (TBI) with autologous stem-cell support would improve the prognosis for patients with newly diagnosed metastatic Ewing's sarcoma (ES).
Thirty-two eligible patients with newly diagnosed ES metastatic to bone and/or bone marrow were enrolled onto this study. Treatment was initially comprised of five cycles of induction chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine alternating with ifosfamide and etoposide) and local control. Peripheral-blood stem-cell collection was performed after the second cycle of chemotherapy, with delay if the bone marrow was persistently involved. If patients had a good response to initial therapy, they proceeded to consolidation therapy with melphalan, etoposide, TBI, and stem-cell support.
Of the 32 eligible patients, 23 proceeded to high-dose therapy consolidation. Of the nine patients who did not proceed to consolidation, four were secondary to progressive disease and two were secondary to toxicity. Three patients died from toxicity during the high-dose phase of the therapy. The majority of the patients who underwent high-dose consolidation therapy experienced relapse and died with progressive disease. Two-year event-free survival (EFS) for all eligible patients is 20%. The 2-year post-stem-cell reconstitution EFS for the subset of 23 patients who received consolidation therapy is 24%. Analysis of peripheral-blood stem-cell collections by molecular techniques for minimal residual disease showed contamination of at least some samples by tumor cells in all three patients with available data.
Consolidation with high-dose melphalan, etoposide, TBI, and autologous stem-cell support failed to improve the probability of EFS in this cohort of patients with newly diagnosed metastatic ES.