What Is Ewing's Sarcoma? Health Article

To help you understand what is happening when you have cancer, it helps to know how your body works normally. Our bodies are made up of tiny building blocks called cells. Normal or healthy cells grow and multiply when the body needs them, and die out when the body does not need them.

Cancer is made up of abnormal or unhealthy cells that grow whether they are needed or not. Ewing’s sarcoma is a type of cancer that can start in either the bone or in nonbony tissue, which are soft tissues. This type of sarcoma is named after James Ewing, MD, who first discovered it in 1921. Doctors know that most bone tumors can’t be treated with radiation. Dr. Ewing found that this new tumor could be treated with radiation.

Doctors later found the same tumor in soft tissues. They named it extraosseous Ewing’s sarcoma, which means it’s not found in the bone. In the 1990s, doctors found another cancer that was much like Ewing’s sarcoma. They called it primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET). These tumors are now all known as the Ewing’s family of tumors (EFT). They are treated in a similar way.

Studies of these tumors have shown that Ewing’s tumors are caused by changes in the chromosomes of the tumor cells. These changes are only found in the tumor cells. They are not changes that get passed on from generation to generation. This means that a parent’s chromosome did not cause his or her child to get cancer. It is not known why these changes happen.