Is time of the essence? Delayed diagnosis of Ewing's sarcoma.

Abstract

Rarely in modern medicine are we able to observe the natural history of a patient with a sarcoma. This unusual case provides that opportunity. A CT scan was performed on the leg of a 15-year-old boy with a tender soft tissue mass on the lateral aspect of his left calf. Despite showing a lesion consistent with a sarcoma, neither the patient nor his family was informed. Almost a year and a half later, the patient returned and was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma. A staging work up showed no metastatic disease. After undergoing chemotherapy and a complete surgical resection of the tumour, the patient remains disease-free 10 years later, indicating that the biology of Ewing's sarcoma may be more important than time to diagnosis in determining outcome.

• Authors: Madeline Edwards, Jacqueline Halton, Raveena Ramphal, Donna Johnston
• Journal: BMJ case reports (BMJ Case Rep) Vol. 2015 (Jan 27 2015) ISSN: 1757-790X [Electronic] England
• PMID: 25628326 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article)
• Copyright: 2015 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Topics

• Adolescent
• Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols (therapeutic use)
• Bone Neoplasms (diagnostic imaging, therapy)
• Combined Modality Therapy
• Delayed Diagnosis
• Humans
• Male
• Radiography
• Sarcoma, Ewing (diagnostic imaging, therapy)