[Treatment of Ewing's sarcoma with intensive initial chemotherapy. 1st evaluation of a French pediatric multicenter protocol].

From April, 1978 to December, 1982, 87 cases of Ewing's sarcoma were registered in 12 centres of paediatric oncology in France. The results of a therapeutic protocol consisting of intensive chemotherapy (vincristine, cyclophosphamide and actinomycin with or without adriamycin) prior to tumoral irradiation, followed by maintenance chemotherapy are reported after 3 years' follow-up from the beginning of treatment. In localized sarcomas, complete remission (66/70) persisted without relapse or metastasis in 54% of the cases (78% in sarcomas of long bones, and 37% in sarcomas of short bones). In non-metastatic sarcomas of the ribs, the first remission persisted in 7/14 patients (50%). All these patients had been initially treated with chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgical excision. These preliminary results emphasize the value of co-operative therapeutic trials in a rare tumour, demonstrate the effectiveness of the initial chemotherapy used against Ewing's sarcoma and are in favour of a combined treatment, including systematic excision, for Ewing's sarcomas affecting the ribs.