Late recurrence of a tumor of Ewing’s sarcoma family of tumors: report of a case

A 27-year-old female presented with a history of a right chest wall tumor at 3 years of age. At that time, the tumor was surgically resected and diagnosed as Ewing’s sarcoma (EWS), and postoperative chemoradiotherapy was administered. The patient remained disease-free for 25 years. At age 27, chest computed tomography revealed a mass adjacent to the anterolateral thoracic wall. After surgery, the diagnosis was primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET). She died of the disease 10 months later. PNET and EWS were integrated into a single item in the 2002 WHO classification; thus, they are considered clinically and pathologically identical. The morphologic, immunohistochemical, and molecular biological characteristics of both specimens showed that the second tumor was a local recurrence of Ewing’s sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT). Our case is the longest duration local recurrence reported. Long-term recurrences of ESFT and patients with recurrent ESFT have a poor prognosis; thus, long-term follow-up is necessary.