Ewing's Sarcoma Treatment

The experts at MD Anderson's Children's Cancer Hospital take the extra time and effort to personalize treatment for each child with Ewing's sarcoma. A highly specialized team of some of the world's top physicians follows your child throughout treatment, ensuring the best chance of successful treatment with the least impact on your child's growing body.

Ewing's sarcoma is rare, and most oncologists have little experience treating it. Studies show that sarcoma patients have better outcomes when they are treated at large, comprehensive cancer centers. Our physicians treat a large number of patients with Ewing's sarcoma, which translates to a remarkable level of skill and expertise.

Surgical expertise

Since Ewing's sarcoma usually requires multiple approaches, a comprehensive team approach is crucial. At the Children's Cancer Hospital, your child is the focus of a group of physicians, including surgeons, oncologists, radiation oncologists and pathologists. They are supported by specially trained rehabilitation specialists, therapists, nurses and other health care professionals who work together to ensure your child receives the best care.

Ewing's sarcoma treatment often includes surgery. Our surgeons are among the nation's most skilled. They use the most up-to-date techniques and technologies, including limb-sparing surgeries, so most patients can avoid the loss of an arm or leg. If limb-sparing surgery is not an option, Children's Cancer Center offers the most-advanced prostheses.

Leading-edge Ewing's sarcoma research

Many Ewing's sarcoma patients at Children's Cancer Hospital are treated with innovative agents as part of clinical trials. We participate in Children's Oncology Group protocols, as well as other clinical trials available at only a few hospitals in the nation.

If your child has been diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, we're here to help. Call 877-632-6789 to make an appointment or request an appointment online.

Our Ewing's sarcoma treatments

If your child is diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, the doctor will talk to your family about the best options to treat it. This depends on several factors, including the size and location of the cancer, if it has spread, and your child's age and general health.

At Children's Cancer Hospital, we design a course of treatment customized specially for your child's needs. One or more of the following therapies may be recommended to treat the cancer or help relieve symptoms.

Chemotherapy

In most Ewing's sarcoma cases, small areas of cancer have spread to other parts of the body. They are called micrometastases. These areas usually do not show up in imaging tests.

For that reason chemotherapy, which travels to all parts of the body, is almost always the first part of the treatment for Ewing's sarcoma. Usually, it is followed by surgery and/or radiation therapy and further chemotherapy. Children's Cancer Hospital offers the most up-to-date and advanced chemotherapy options.

Targeted therapies

Children's Cancer Hospital is leading into the future of cancer treatment by developing innovative targeted therapies. These agents are specially designed to treat each cancer's specific genetic/molecular profile to help the body fight the disease. Many of the doctors who treat Ewing's sarcoma at Children's Cancer Hospital are dedicated researchers who have pioneered and actively lead national and international clinical trials with novel targeted agents.

Surgery

Because Ewing's sarcoma can be found in a number of places throughout the body, several types of surgery may be used to treat it. Your doctor will talk to you about the best type of surgery for your child's particular needs and possible side effects.

Surgery to treat Ewing's sarcoma attempts to remove as much of the tumor as possible without harming surrounding areas.

At Children's Cancer Hospital, our specialized orthopedic surgeons are often able to avoid amputation when the tumor is in an arm or leg. Complex limb-sparing surgery removes the tumor, but saves the tendons, nerves and blood vessels. Any bone that is removed is replaced with a bone graft or an internal prosthesis, which is similar to an artificial joint.

Like all surgeries, Ewing's sarcoma surgery is most successful when performed by a specialist with a great deal of experience in the particular procedure. Children's Cancer Hospital surgeons are some of the most skilled and recognized in the world. They are among the few surgeons in the world who specialize in pediatric sarcoma treatment, and they use the least-invasive and most-advanced techniques designed especially for children.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) uses high-energy beams to destroy cancer cells. New radiation therapy techniques and remarkable skill allow Children's Cancer Hospital doctors to target tumors more precisely, delivering the maximum amount of radiation with the least damage to healthy cells. This is particularly important to growing bodies.

Children's Cancer Hospital provides the most-advanced radiation treatments, including:

• 3D-conformal radiation therapy
• Intensity-modulated radiotherapy

Proton therapy

Proton therapy delivers high radiation doses directly into the tumor, sparing nearby healthy tissue and vital organs. For many patients, this results in better cancer control with less impact on the body.

The Proton Therapy Center at MD Anderson is one of the world's largest and most advanced centers. It's the only proton therapy facility in the country located within a comprehensive cancer center. This means this cutting-edge therapy is backed by all the expertise and compassionate care for which MD Anderson is famous.