Primary Ewing sarcoma of rib

Ewing sarcoma is a relatively common, highly malignant bone tumor that typically occurs in adolescents and young adults aged 10-25 years. Our archives contain 328 cases of histologically proved and radiologically correlated Ewing sarcoma collected in consultation over 40 years. From this series, we identified 34 lesions (10%) arising in ribs. Radiographically, the affected rib was predominantly lytic in most (82%) cases, but mixed lytic-sclerotic (9%) and even predominantly sclerotic (9%) patterns were also encountered. The affected rib was "expanded" in 35% of cases, although the contour change was usually mild. Abnormalities of the affected ipsilateral hemithorax varied from subtle, isolated rib involvement to solitary rib involvement accompanied by complete opacification of the hemithorax. We describe the spectrum of radiologic findings of primary Ewing sarcoma of rib, augmented where appropriate by accompanying pathologic material.