Extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma of the spinal epidural space

Ewing's sarcoma is found exceptionally as a primary epidural tumor of the s pine. Four cases of extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma of the spinal epidural spa ce are presented. Another 17 eases were found in the pertinent literature a nd are discussed. There were 15 males and 6 females with mean age of 16 yea rs (range, 4 to 30). Symptoms included back pain and/or radicular pain, par esis of one or more limbs, sensory disturbances, and bladder and bowel dysf unction. The mean diagnostic delay was 4.7 months. Each patient underwent s urgery but complete resection of the tumor was obtained in only half of the eases. Most patients received radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Twelve p atients died, 1 to 54 months (mean, 18) after diagnosis. Even though the nu mber of patients was too small in this series for statistical analysis, par tially resected tumors do appear to be associated with a higher mortality.