| The following article features coverage from the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
Patients with Ewing sarcoma aged 19 to 39 years may benefit from treatment at a specialized cancer center, according to research being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois.1
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Previous research suggests that patients with Ewing sarcoma treated at specialized centers have better outcomes, though this is unconfirmed. For this population-based study, researchers evaluated survival data from 470 patients hospitalized within 1 year of diagnosis from 2000 through 2013. Data were obtained from the California Cancer Registry.
Specialized cancer centers were defined as either Children’s Oncology Group centers or National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated centers.
Just over half of the included patients had private health insurance and 61% were treated at a specialized center. Higher mortality rates correlated with age and extent of disease, though the hazard ratio (HR) for treatment at a specialized center was only 0.77 (CI, 0.55-1.08; P = .134).
The researchers did note, however, that patients aged 19 to 39 had a survival benefit within the first 2 years of diagnosis (HR, 0.43; CI, 0.23-0.79; P = .007).
The authors concluded that the “lower mortality in this age group may be due to access to clinical trials and other specialized services specific to young adults available at [specialized cancer centers].”
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Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting by visiting the conference page.
Reference
- Alvarez EM, Malogolowkin MH, Pollock B, et al. Mortality in young adults with Ewing sarcoma treated at specialized cancer centers in California. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35(suppl; abstr 10538).
