Journal of Cancer Research and Immuno-Oncology
Open Access

Ewing Sarcoma: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

Ana M Rodriguez^{* *}Correspondence: Ana M Rodriguez, Department of Surgery, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, USA, Email:

Author info »

Description

Ewing sarcoma may be a sort of cancer which will be a bone sarcoma or a soft-tissue sarcoma. Symptoms may include swelling and pain at the location of the tumor, fever, and a bone fracture. The foremost common areas where it begins are the legs, pelvis, and chest wall. In about 25% of cases, the cancer has already spread to other parts of the body at the time of diagnosis. Complications may include a pleural effusion or paraplegia.

The explanation for Ewing sarcoma is unknown. Most cases appear to occur randomly. It’s sometimes grouped alongside primitive neuroectodermal tumors, during a category referred to as the Ewing family of tumors. The underlying mechanism often involves a genetic change referred to as a reciprocal translocation. Diagnosis is predicated on biopsy of the tumor.

Symptoms

Symptoms include pain, swelling or stiffness within the area of the tumor (arms, legs, chest, back, or pelvis) for weeks or months. This might get mistaken for bumps and bruises. In children, you would possibly mistake it for sports injuries.

Other symptoms include:

• A lump near skin that feels warm and soft to the touch

• Constant low fever

• Limping because your legs hurt

• Bone pain that gets worse once you exercise or during the night

• Broken bones without a clear cause

• Weight loss

Causes

It’s unclear what causes Ewing’s sarcoma, because it doesn’t appear to run in families. So far, research suggests that it’s not associated with exposure to radiation, chemicals, or other outside things within the environment. It appears that the cell DNA changes after birth, resulting in Ewing’s sarcoma.

Risk Factors

Risk factors for Ewing sarcoma include:

Age-Ewing sarcoma can occur at any age, but it's more likely to occur in children and teenagers.

Ancestry-Ewing sarcoma is more common in people of European ancestry. It's much less common in people of African and East Asian ancestry.

Diagnosis

• Imaging tests

• Removing a sample of cells for testing (biopsy)

• Testing the cancer cells for gene mutations

Treatment

Ewing sarcoma treatment usually begins with chemotherapy. Surgery to get rid of the cancer usually follows. Other treatments, including radiotherapy, could be utilized in certain situations.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses powerful drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy treatment usually combines two or more drugs which will be administered as an infusion into a vein (IV), in pill form, or through both methods.

Treatment for Ewing sarcoma usually begins with chemotherapy. The drugs may shrink the tumor and make it easier to get rid of the cancer with surgery or target with radiotherapy.

After surgery or radiotherapy, chemotherapy treatments might continue so as to kill any cancer cells which may remain.

For advanced cancer that spreads to other areas of the body, chemotherapy might help relieve pain and slow the expansion of the cancer.

Surgery

The goal of surgery is to get rid of all of the cancer cells. Surgery for Ewing sarcoma may involve removing a little portion of bone or removing a whole limb. Whether surgeons can remove all of the cancer without removing the whole limb depends on several factors, like the dimensions and site of the tumor and whether it shrinks after chemotherapy.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams, like X-rays and protons, to kill cancer cells.

During radiotherapy, the beams of energy are delivered from a machine that moves around you as you lie on a table. The beams are carefully directed to the world of the Ewing sarcoma so as to scale back the danger of injury to surrounding healthy cells.

Radiation therapy could be recommended after surgery to kill any cancer cells that remain. It also can be used rather than surgery if the Ewing sarcoma is found during a part of the body where surgery isn't possible or would end in unacceptable functional outcomes (such as loss of bowel or bladder function).

For advanced Ewing sarcomas, radiotherapy can slow the expansion of the cancer and help relieve pain.