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Ed Yeates ReportingWith Ewing's sarcoma, the proven protocol for now at all major cancer centers involves a fairly standard recipe to stop the cancer once it's been identified in tissue, before it invades the bone or other parts of the body.
Primary Children's Hospital uses the latest and most effective treatments against cancer, based on clinical trials and a track record established by a consortium of other major medical centers around the country.
Ewing's sarcoma is an extremely aggressive cancer. Without treatment or delayed treatment, the death rate is high. Fewer than ten percent will survive. That's why the protocol is the same. Dr. Stephen Prescott at the Huntsman Cancer Institute says the most effective recipe for the best outcome involves starting treatment early.
Once the cancer is identified in tissue, nip it in the bud before undetected cells invade the bone or other organs. By the time they show up on cat or bone scans, you've waited too long.
Stephen Prescott, M.D., Executive Director, Huntsman Cancer Institute: "We don't need an X-ray that will show it, because we can know in all probability, know that it's there. Ninety percent of the time, it's going to be there."
Based on evidence from a consortium of major hospitals around the country, the best track record so far for this type of cancer is new generation chemotherapy. If started early, the survival rate is better than 70 percent. And for children, even more so than adults.
Stephen Prescott, M.D., Executive Director, Huntsman Cancer Institute: "They tolerate the treatment, the side effects of treatment much much better than adults do, and the outcomes are better than in adults."
That's the argument based on traditional western medicine. That's not to say there are not better treatments yet to come. But in the world of science and clinical trials, they have yet to be proven.
