Radiographic appearance of Ewing sarcoma of the hands and feet: Report from the Intergroup Ewing Sarcoma Study

Review of current data from the Intergroup Ewing Sarcoma Study (IESS) shows that Ewing sarcoma is rare in bones of the hands and feet. The 12 patients from the IESS protocols with hand or foot Ewing sarcoma are comparable to those already reported in the literature. With the exception of lesions in the calcaneus, the prognosis for disease-free survival is excellent. The radiographic features of hand and foot Ewing sarcoma are generally those of classic Ewing sarcoma: permeation, soft-tissue mass, and, often, associated sclerotic reaction. However, with the exception of sclerosis, features suggesting bone reaction and slow tumor growth in these patients were distinctly uncommon compared with Ewing sarcoma in general. Those radiographic features suggesting aggressive behavior were slightly more common than in the general Ewing population. Even so, neither the radiographic appearance nor the greatest dimension of the radiographic lesion can be shown to contribute significantly to prognostication in these patients. Apparently location of the lesion is important, since the reported cases in the literature and in this series, lesions of the calcaneus fared poorly. The importance of this set of patients therefore relates to awareness and early recognition of an unusual appearance and location of Ewing sarcoma.