Timing of Surgery and the Role of Adjuvant Radiotherapy in Ewing Sarcoma of the Chest Wall: A Single-institution Experience

• Published in: Annals of surgical oncology Vol. 19; no. 12; pp. 3809 - 3815
• Main Authors: Denbo, Jason W., Shannon Orr, W., Wu, Yanan, Wu, Jianrong, Billups, Catherine A., Navid, Fariba, Rao, Bhaskar N., Davidoff, Andrew M., Krasin, Matthew J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01-11-2012; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Bone and Soft Tissue Sarcomas; Bone Neoplasms - mortality; Bone Neoplasms - radiotherapy; Bone Neoplasms - surgery; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; Child; Child, Preschool; Combined Modality Therapy; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Infant; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - mortality; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - radiotherapy; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local - surgery; Neoplasm Staging; Oncology; Prognosis; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; Retrospective Studies; Sarcoma, Ewing - mortality; Sarcoma, Ewing - radiotherapy; Sarcoma, Ewing - surgery; Surgery; Surgical Oncology; Survival Rate; Thoracic Wall - pathology; Thoracic Wall - surgery; Time Factors; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Complete Pathologic Response; Ewing Sarcoma; Chest Wall Resection; Adjuvant Radiotherapy; Chest Wall
• ISSN: 1068-9265; 1534-4681
• DOI: 10.1245/s10434-012-2449-5

Background
Ewing sarcoma (ES) is the most common chest wall malignancy in adolescents. Current therapy incorporates chemotherapy to treat systemic disease and radiotherapy to assist with local control. We sought to evaluate the timing of surgery and role of adjuvant radiotherapy.
Methods
We reviewed the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital chest wall ES experience from 1979 to 2009. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, treatment variables, and outcomes were analyzed with respect to timing of surgery and use of adjuvant radiotherapy.
Results
Our cohort consisted of 36 patients with chest wall ES; median follow-up was 14.2 years, and 15-year estimate of overall survival was 66 %. In patients with localized disease, the timing of surgery (up-front vs. delayed) did not impact margin negativity or the use of adjuvant radiotherapy, but it did decrease the extent of chest wall resection. When considering radiotherapy in patients with localized disease, we found that patients who did not receive radiotherapy had smaller tumor size (median 6 vs. 10 cm) (
p
 = 0.04) and were more likely to have had negative margins (
p
 = 0.01) than patients who received adjuvant radiotherapy. One patient in each group developed a locoregional recurrence. The 15-year estimated of overall survival for patients who received adjuvant radiotherapy was 80 versus 100 % for those who did not.
Conclusions
Delayed surgery decreased the extent of chest wall resection and helped define a patient population with favorable tumor biology. Patients with complete pathologic responses to chemotherapy, and those with tumors <8 cm and negative surgical margins may be spared adjuvant radiotherapy without any decrement in overall survival.