Acute and late effects on normal tissues following combined chemo- and radiotherapy for childhood rhabdomyosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma.

Twenty-three patients with rhabdomyosarcoma and 15 patients with Ewing's sarcoma, treated with radiation therapy to the local site and systemic multiagent chemotherapy are described. Acute reactions from combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy were noted in both groups of patients. These reactions often appeared after low doses of irradiation, required unplanned interruptions of treatments, and in some patients, led to discontinuation of radiation therapy. The chronic effects on normal tissues in both groups of patients have been severe in several cases.