SARCOMAS PROGNOSIS

Benign brain tumors rarely recur, but sarcomas can reappear after treatment was believed to have eliminated every cell.

Likelihood of long-term survival depends on:

• the type and location of the tumor
• how much the tumor has metastasized, and on what organs, bones, or tissues have been affected

More than 85% of patients survive for more than five years after complete surgical removal of low-grade osteosarcomas (tumors that arise in mature tissue and contain a small number of cancerous cells). About 25-30% of patients diagnosed with high-grade osteosarcomas (tumors that develop in immature tissue and contain a large number of cancer cells) will die of the disease.

Two-thirds of all children diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma will live for more than five years after the disease is detected. The outlook is most favorable for children under age 10, and least favorable in patients whose cancer is not diagnosed until after it has metastasized: fewer than three of every 10 of these patients remain alive five years later. More than 80% of patients whose Ewing's sarcoma is confined to a small area and surgically removed live, for at least five years. Postsurgical radiation and chemotherapy add years to their lives. More than 70% of patients live five years or more with a small Ewing's sarcoma that cannot be removed, but only three out of five patients with large, unremovable tumors survive that long.