PRERESECTION CHEMOTHERAPY IMPROVES SURVIVAL FOR CHILDREN WITH ASKIN TUMORS

Objective: To test whether patients with Askin tumor treated with aggr essive neoadjuvant chemotherapy have a better clinical outcome. Design : Retrospective case series. Setting: Pediatric referral center. Patie nts: All children diagnosed with malignant small-cell tumors of the ch est wall (Askin tumor) and treated from 1975 to September 1987 (phase 1, n = 6) and from September 1987 to the present (phase 2, n = 9). Mai n Outcome Measures: Survival as a function of extent of disease and re sponse to therapy as measured by tumor volume, survival, and recurrenc e. Results: All phase 2 patients had significant reduction of tumor vo lume and improved survival by Kaplan-Meier estimates compared with pha se 1 patients. No phase 1 patients are still alive. Conclusion: Patien ts with Askin tumor treated with aggressive preresection chemotherapy have smaller tumors to resect and improved survival.