Due to low incidence, epidemiologic data of Ewing sarcoma in the Asian population are scarce.We aimed to examine the incidence pattern and outcome of patients with Ewing sarcoma in the Republic of Korea.
Materials and MethodsData of patients with Ewing sarcoma diagnosed between 1999 and 2017 were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry (KCCR). Incidence, clinical characteristics, and survival rates were analyzed and compared between different age groups.
ResultsThere were 788 cases (459 male, 329 female), with a median age at diagnosis of 20 years. The age-standardized rate of Ewing sarcoma was 1.01. The number of cases and incidence rates in each age group were as follows: children, 1.6; adolescents and young adults, 0.93; adults, 0.44; and elderly, 0.53. There were more male cases in children and the adolescents and young adults (AYA) group (p<0.001). Extraskeletal tumors (p=0.0007), primary sites other than extremity (P=0.0069), and presence of metastasis at diagnosis (p=0.0314) were more frequent in the adults and elderly group. With a median survival time of 78 months, the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of the entire cohort was 52%. Children fared best (5-year OS 75%), and the 5-year OS of AYA patients (51%) approximated the OS of the entire cohort. A two-fold difference of 5-year OS was observed between adults and elderly patients (42% vs. 19%). On univariate and multivariate analyses, age ≥15 years and presence of metastasis were adverse prognostic factors.
ConclusionThis was the first epidemiologic study of Ewing sarcoma using the KCCR data. With a similar incidence to other Asian countries, the survival rate was slightly lower than that of Euro-
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