Prognostic Factors in Ewing’s Tumor of Bone: Analysis of 975 Patients From the European Intergroup Cooperative Ewing’s Sarcoma Study Group

PURPOSE: To further elaborate on prognostic factors for Ewing’s sarcoma of bone and to document improvements in relapse-free survival (RFS) and trends in local therapy over the study period (1977 to 1993). PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on a combined Gesellschaft Fur Padiatrische Onkologie und Hamatologie/Cooperative Ewing Sarcoma Study and United Kingdom Children’s Cancer Study Group/Medical Research Council data set of 975 patients registered with the respective trial offices before the current collaborative European Intergroup Cooperative Ewing’s Sarcoma Study trial. Both groups independently undertook studies with similar chemotherapy during the period. RESULTS: The key adverse prognostic factor is metastases at diagnosis (5-year RFS, 22% of patients with metastases at diagnosis v 55% of patients without metastases at diagnosis; P < .0001). For the group with metastases, there was a trend for better survival for those with lung involvement compared with those with bone me...