Ewing's Sarcoma Treatments: Stem Cell Rescue
Basic Information
Some patients with Ewing's sarcoma have stem cell transplantation or a stem cell rescue. A stem cell rescue/transplant allows a patient to be treated with high doses of drugs, radiation, or both. The high doses destroy both cancer cells and normal blood cells in the bone marrow. Later, the patient receives healthy stem cells through a tube that is placed in a large vein in the neck or chest area. New blood cells develop from the transplanted stem cells.
The stem cells can either have been harvested from the individual (autologous) or for someone else (allogeneic). The stem cells can come from the bone marrow if is it cancer-free or the blood using a process called apheresis which is similar to donating blood. See:
- Autologous Stem Cell Transplants: A Handbook for Patients
- Bone Marrow Transplantation and Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation: Questions and Answers
Research Results
- 2003 abstract comparing two different ways to do stem cell rescue on Ewing's sarcoma (with and without total body irradiation)
- 2001 abstract presenting bad results with stem cell reconstitution for Ewing's sarcoma at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The chemotherapy agents used were melphalan or thiotepa/carboplatin; all of the patients had metastatic disease to the bone or bone marrow.
- 2001 abstract on using topotecan, thiotepa, and carboplatin with a stem cell rescue; most (18/21) of the patients were in complete remission before the procedure. Event-free survivors include 1/3 Ewing's sarcoma. The work was done at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in NYC.
- 2000 abstract discussing somewhat okay results with stem cell rescue using radiotherapy for Ewing's in Seattle: 3/30 toxicity-related deaths; 8/30 developed recurrent disease; 6/30 survive relapse-free for 66 months. (The numbers might be off by 1.)
- 2000 abstract comparing patients treated with total body radiation, HDT with melphalan, etoposide +/- carboplatin. 9/36 are in CR; 9/36 died from treatment-related toxicity; 18/36 died from the disease.
- 1997 abstract discussing stem cell rescue done after high dose therapy of busulphan and melphalan. 11 of the 18 patients had metastatic disease at presentation; in the medial follow-up of 2 years, there were 13 surviving patients, including 6 of metastatic disease
Related Links
- Barry Sugarman's Information Links on Stem Cell Transplants information.
- The Childhood Cancer Center's Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplants webpage.