Cutaneous metastases from Ewing's sarcoma: report of two cases

Ewing's sarcoma is a malignant osseous neoplasm that affects mostly children and young adult males. Clinically, the neoplasm presents with oedema, swelling, and pain of the involved area. Histopathologically, Ewing's sarcoma consists of solid sheets of small round cells, with vesicular nuclei and scant cytoplasm, arranged in irregular masses separated by strands of fibrous tissue, with areas of necrosis en masse intermingled with intratumoural haemorrhage. Ewing's sarcoma is an extremely aggressive neoplasm and metastases to sites such as lung, pleura, other bones, central nervous system, liver, and regional lymph nodes frequently develop in early stages of the disease. Surprisingly, despite the highly aggressive biological behaviour of this neoplasm, cutaneous metastases from Ewing's sarcoma are very uncommon. We report two patients with Ewing's sarcoma of the bone who developed cutaneous metastases. As in other internal malignancies, the onset of cutaneous metastases in patients with Ewing's sarcoma indicates a poor prognosis.