Presenting symptoms and treatment delay in osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma

Presenting symptoms and treatment delay were investigated in a series of 84 osteosarcomas and 40 Ewing's sarcomas. The treatment delay averaged 6.4 months for osteosarcomas and 9.6 months for Ewing's sarcomas. In both types the delay was relatively short in patients with constant pain and swelling. The prognosis was about the same whether the delay was short or long. This may be explained by the more severe nature of the presenting symptoms, in particular the constant pain and swelling, in aggressive tumours, a factor that also tends to mask other relevant prognostic parameters. It is concluded that the presenting symptoms and the treatment delay constitute important pathophysiologic factors which should be given more attention when analysing material from bone sarcomas.