Childhood Survivors of Ewing Sarcoma Face Excess Mortality and Morbidity

Increased survival among younger patients with Ewing sarcoma is associated with considerable long-term health risks, revealed a study in the Aug. 18, 2010, Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

Although survival among patients with Ewing sarcoma (EW) has improved since the 1970s, these survivors face subsequent malignant neoplasms, chronic health conditions, infertility and an inferior health status, noted Jill P. Ginsberg and colleagues, the authors of “Long-term Survivors of Childhood Ewing Sarcoma: Report From the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study.”

To determine the mortality and morbidity among this group of survivors, the researchers evaluated the data from 568 survivors with ES diagnosed prior to age 21 between 1970 to 1986. Tapping the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, the researchers compared outcomes of these 568 survivors with the U.S. population and sibling control subjects, 3,899.

They found that the cumulative mortality was 25 percent (95 percent CI = 21.1 to 28.9) for survivors of childhood ES at 25 years after the disease was diagnosed. And more women, 23.1 percent, than men, 10.0 percent, died. The cumulative incidence was 9.0 percent (95 percent CI = 5.8 to 12.2) of subsequent malignant neoplasms, excluding nonmelanoma skin cancers. Survivors also shared an increased relative risk, 6.0 percent, of severe, life-threatening, or disabling chronic health conditions, lower fertility rates and higher rates of a moderate to extreme adverse health status.

“Long-term survivors of childhood ES exhibit excess mortality and morbidity,” the researchers concluded.