Feasibility of Compressed Chemotherapy Pediatric Ewing Sarcoma Regimen In Pakistan.

A retrospective chart review was conducted to determine the feasibility of interval-compressed chemotherapy regimen in pediatric Ewing sarcoma (ES) patients treated at Department of Pediatric Oncology, Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust Cancer Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan, from June 2017 to December 2018. Data was collected regarding demographics, treatment duration and timing, complications and outcome. Completion of treatment within 8 months as considered on time. There were 24 patients (male: female ratio = 1.4:1, average age = 10.2 ±5.3 years. Involved sites were extremity in 13 (54%), pelvis in 4 (16.6%), and spine in 3 (12.5%) patients. Twenty patients (83.3%) completed chemotherapy on time. The mean duration of treatment was 7.2 ±1.2 months. Only three patients (12%) exceeded 8 months of duration of treatment. There was an average of 2.5 febrile neutropenia events per patient. Seventeen (70.8%) patients are alive at the time of review. Two patients died of sepsis, one developed cardiac failure, and one died of progressive disease. This single-institution review showed that patients can tolerate interval-compressed chemotherapy protocol regimen for ES with adequate supportive care. Key Words: Ewing sarcoma, chemotherapy, Compressed regimen, feasibility, Pediatrics.