Late follow-up of a short-term intensive regimen for ewing's sarcoma

Twenty-two patients received a short-term intensive regimen for Ewing's sarcoma between November 1977 and December 1981. The regimen consisted of vincristine (1.5 mg/m2) on day 1, and doxorubicin HCl (75 mg/m2) plus cyclophosphamide (1,000 mg/m2) on day 2. Six cycles were given at 28-day intervals. Local irradiation was started shortly after cycle 2. Eight patients with lesions of expendable bones also underwent surgery as part of the treatment to the primary site, 4 at the end of chemotherapy and 4 at diagnosis. The 5-year event-free survival rate was 45% for all patients and 48% for those with localized disease at diagnosis. Two patients died of treatment-related toxicity. The most common form of failure was distant metastases, indicating that finding a better systemic treatment remains the problem in eradicating Ewing's sarcoma.