Study design: A case study of a patient with Ewing sarcoma of T8 and T9 with paravertebral and chest wall involvement, who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy and subsequent multilevel en bloc spondylectomy and chest wall excision using a simultaneous anterior and posterior approach.
Objective: To show the feasibility of treating Ewing sarcoma of the thoracic spine with paravertebral and chest wall extension by multiagent chemotherapy followed by a multilevel en bloc spondylectomy and chest wall excision using a simultaneous anterior and posterior approach.
Summary of background data: Ewing sarcoma is a primary malignant bone tumor that occasionally involves the spinal column. Most patients with Ewing sarcoma of the spine are treated with systemic chemotherapy followed by definitive local control. Radiation therapy is the usual mode of local control in these patients because the spinal column has historically been considered a surgically inaccessible site where wide surgical margins are difficult to obtain. However, en bloc spondylectomy techniques have been described that can probably further decrease the risk of local recurrence, thereby minimizing or even eliminating the need for radiation therapy. To our knowledge, a combined en bloc spondylectomy and chest wall excision in a patient with Ewing sarcoma in the spine has not been previously reported.
Methods: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of vincristine, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide was administered. After completion of the chemotherapy, an en bloc spondylectomy of T8 and T9 with removal of the chest wall was achieved using a simultaneous anterior and posterior approach to the spine. A stackable carbon fiber cage filled with autograft and allograft bone was inserted between T7 and T10. The spine was stabilized with anterior and posterior instrumentation. The chest wall was reconstructed with contoured polymethylmethacrylate and polypropylene (Marlex, Textile Development Associates, Inc., Franklin Square, NY) mesh.
Results: The patient maintained normal neurologic function, and pain was lessened. The margins were free of tumor, and tumor necrosis was 100%. After surgery, radiotherapy was not administered. No local tumor recurrence or distant metastases were evident at the last follow-up. Balance in the coronal and sagittal planes was maintained. The patient has returned to work and resumed normal activities of daily living.
Conclusions: Multilevel en bloc spondylectomy and chest wall excision performed using a simultaneous anterior and posterior approach is a safe and effective technique that may be used to achieve adequate margins in select patients with malignant tumors involving the thoracic spine and chest wall. This technique can eliminate the need for radiation therapy in patients with Ewing sarcoma and probably decreases the risk of local recurrence compared with radiation therapy alone.