Outcomes of bone tumours

Where the patient relapses despite the best chemotherapy and surgery strategies outlined above, the chance of cure second time around is small.

 

Occasionally, late single lung metastases from osteogenic sarcoma have been resected and cures obtained (usually nowadays with second line chemotherapy), but where there are multiple metastases the patient will ultimately succumb and treatment is aimed at the control of symptoms.

 

Relapse from Ewing's sarcoma has been successfuly treated with further chemotherapy of different type and a finale of high dose chemotherapy with an autologous stem cell transplant ( a technique where higher doses of chemotherapy than the bone marrow can tolerate are delivered; the situation is then rescued by the infusion of some of the patients own bone marrow progenitor cells - harvested earlier).However, the diagnosis of relapse in Ewing's sarcoma is a very serious one and it is only a minority of patients who will ultimately survive.

 

Plowman Oncology London (e-mail: postmaster@pnplowman.demon.co.uk)