Primary Ewing sarcoma of the spine: Report of two cases.

Ewing sarcoma is a primary bone tumor which was originally described by Lucke in 1866 but was defined in such detail by Sir James Ewing in 1921 that it is now associated with his name [1]. This tumor involves the spine primarily in 3.5% to 14.9% r ~ ~ases [2,3]. The review of 22 cases of Ewing Sarcoma of the spine by Pilepich et al in 1981 [4] remains the largest study of this pathology in such location in the literature and apart from a few smaller series [3,5], most of the documentation of Ewing sarcoma of the spine has been by isolated case reports [6-8]. Considering the worldwide rarity of primary spinal Ewing sarcoma, we were surprised to encounter two cases among the 30 cases of spinal tumors treated in our unit over the last seven years [9]. There are a number of articles reflecting on the experience with Ewing sarcoma in Saudi Arabia [10-12]. However, to our knowledge, in none of these reports was the spine the primary site of the tumor. We feel justified, therefore, in presenting our t· .. ') cases to highlight awareness of clinicians to the v~..;asionalinvolvement of the spine as a primary site of Ewing sarcoma, which should be considered in the differential diagnosis of spinal tumors causing cord compression.