Fizazi, K et al Abramson Cancer Center of the University of
Pennsylvania Last Modified: November 1, 2001 Reviewers: Kenneth
Blank, MD Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology, December 1998,
Vol 16, No. 12, p 3736 Ewing's sarcoma is a bone cancer, which
typically afflicts teenagers. The median age at diagnosis is
about 16 years of age. However, unlike other childhood tumors
such as neuroblastoma that occur almost exclusively in children,
Ewing's sarcoma can occur in adults. Depending on the age at
which one chooses to define an adult, as many as 50% of the
cases of Ewing's sarcoma occur in adults. Reviews of adult cases
of Ewing's sarcoma have shown that the disease carries a worse
prognosis when compared to childhood Ewing's sarcoma. The
reasons for this are varied and include the ability to treat
children more aggressively and the propensity for children to
present before the sarcoma has spread. Because of its relative
rarity, data on the natural history of Ewing's sarcoma is
difficult to obtain. In the Decembe