Local recurrence, rate and sites of metastases, and time to relapse as a function of treatment regimen, size of primary and surgical history in 62 patients presenting with non-metastatic Ewing's sarcoma of the pelvic bones.

This report reviews the experience of 62 patients who presented between 1972 and 1978 with non-metastatic Ewing's sarcoma of the pelvis and were entered on IESS I. Seventeen patients (27%) developed a local recurrence, 38 patients (61%) demonstrated metastases and 21 (34%) neither. In the dose range 4000 rad to 6000 rad no dose response could be detected for local control of tumor. Forty-six patients (74%) had a biopsy or exploratory surgery only, 5 patients (8%) had an incomplete resection and 11 patients (18%) had a complete resection of their tumor. In the 46 patients having a biopsy only, 13 developed a local recurrence (28%) as compared to 2 of 11 patients undergoing a complete resection (18%). The most common sites for metastases were lung in 19 patients (31%) and bone in 23 patients (37%). No significant difference was noted in the frequency of overall metastases or metastases to any site between those patients receiving one of the three treatment regimens used in IESS I: VAC and Adriamycin (regimen I), VAC alone (regimen II) and VAC plus bilateral pulmonary irradiation (regimen III). At a median follow-up of 135 weeks no significant difference in median survival could be detected in patients with pelvic primaries between regimens I, II and III. The mean diameter of the pelvic primaries was comparable to the nonpelvic, however, one half of the pelvic cases were in the range 10-15 cm. The median time to relapse of the 241 non-pelvic patients on IESS I was 222 weeks as contrasted with the median time to relapse of 92 weeks in the 62 pelvic patients on the same study (p = 0.002). The possible reasons for the poor prognosis of pelvic primary patients are discussed together with treatment policies that might improve the survival of this group of patients.