[Extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma of the spinal epidural space]

Ewing's sarcoma is found exceptionally as a primary epidural tumor of the spine. Four cases of extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma of the spinal epidural space are presented. Another 17 cases were found in the pertinent literature and are discussed. There were 15 males and 6 females with mean age of 16 years (range, 4 to 30). Symptoms included back pain and/or radicular pain, paresis of one or more limbs, sensory disturbances, and bladder and bowel dysfunction. The mean diagnostic delay was 4,7 months. Each patient underwent surgery but complete resection of the tumor was obtained in only half of the cases. Most patients received radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Twelve patients died, 1 to 54 months (mean, 18) after diagnosis. Even though the number of patients was too small in this series for statistical analysis, partially resected tumors do appear to be associated with a higher mortality.