Impact of age on safety of Busulfan-Melphalan followed by autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation versus standard chemotherapy in the patients of the EURO-E.W.I.N.G. 99 and Ewing 2008 clinical trials

Choderlos de Laclos X, Risbourg S, Brennan B, Bertucci F, Gaspar N, Gelderblom H, Hawkins DS, Janeway K, Juergens H, Kasper B, Krailo MD, Cécile Le Deley M, Marec-Bérard P, McCabe MG, Metzler M, Ranft A, Strauss S, Tabone MD, Windsor R, Dirksen U, Gandemer V. Impact of age on safety of Busulfan-Melphalan followed by autologous hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation versus standard chemotherapy in the patients of the EURO-E.W.I.N.G. 99 and Ewing 2008 clinical trials. Eur J Cancer. 2024 Sep;208:114229. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2024.114229. Epub 2024 Jul 15. PMID: 39032218; PMCID: PMC11331277.

Ewing sarcoma (ES), is a rare cancer affecting children, adolescents and adults. After VIDE (vincristine-ifosfamide-doxorobucin-etoposide) induction chemotherapy, Busulfan-Melphalan (BuMel) high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cells transplantation improved outcomes in unfavourable localized ES, but with more toxicities than conventional chemotherapy (VAI: Vincristine-dactinomycin-Ifosfamide). We evaluated whether the risk of acute toxicity associated with BuMel compared to VAI varied according to age in patients recruited in the R2Loc and R2Pulm randomised trials of the Euro-E.W.I.N.G.99 and Ewing-2008 trials.