Ewing’s sarcoma

Ewing’s sarcoma is a malignant tumor disease that affects bones and soft tissue near them and usually affects adolescents.

It is named after Dr. James Ewing, an American pathologist, who identified this type of sarcoma for the first time in 1920.

Malignancy can develop anywhere on the body, but most often affects the arms, legs, ribs, spine and pelvis.

Treatment for sarcoma consists of a combination of chemotherapy, surgery, and/or radiation therapy. With early detection and adequate treatment, most children who develop it have a good chance of recovery.

What are the symptoms?

Sarcoma often goes unnoticed because it develops slowly and is gradually or misdiagnosed.

For example, growing pains due to bone growth or a sports injury, as symptoms often mimic those of injuries in children.

The most common clinical manifestation is tenderness at the site of the tumor, accompanied by swelling or warmth.

The pain may be worse at night or during exercise, a lump in a round shape may appear in the affected area, a few weeks after the onset of painful sensations.

If the tumor begins to grow in the leg bone, the child may begin to limp for no reason. Low-grade fever also develops.

If the cancer has spread or metastasized to other areas of the body, such as the lungs or bone marrow, symptoms indicating abnormalities in these organs may appear.

In some cases, the first signs of the disease are a sudden, unprovoked fracture of an arm or leg, or after a completely harmless injury, as the tumor weakens the bone and makes it vulnerable to fracture.

If a child develops any of these symptoms, a doctor should be sought as soon as possible.

It should not be expected that the manifestations of the disease will disappear by themselves, since in such a case the diagnosis will be made at a more advanced stage of the disease.

Ewing Sarcoma Treatment

The course of treatment depends on many factors, including the size and location of the tumor and whether metastases have occurred.

Regardless of the characteristics of the tumor, each patient initially undergoes chemotherapy to shrink the malignancy before surgical removal or radiation and to prevent cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body.

Chemotherapy is also given after the tumor is removed to ensure that the cancer cells do not come back.

A standard course of chemotherapy lasts between 6 and 9 months. Children need to be hospitalized for a few days during treatment, usually once every 2-3 weeks.

More frequent hospitalization may also be required between treatments due to complications or side effects such as fever or infection.

The drugs that are prescribed during the cycle of chemotherapy are administered intravenously.

If necessary, before the surgical removal of the tumor radiation therapy is also applied, due to which the entity reduces its size, which makes it easier for the surgeon to perform the procedure.

It is also possible to use complementary therapy by patients when applying the main treatment, which in some of them provides relief of symptoms and easier tolerance of the severe diagnosis.

Some of the most commonly used complementary alternative techniques are:

• Acupuncture;
• Herbal products;
• Vitamins or special diets;
• Visualization;
• Meditation;
• Spiritual healing;