01.12.2011 | Case report | Ausgabe 1/2011 Open Access
Contribution of magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of talus skip metastases of Ewing's sarcoma of the calcaneus in a child: a case report
- Zeitschrift:
- Journal of Medical Case Reports > Ausgabe 1/2011
Wichtige Hinweise
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1752-1947-5-451) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
HJ, ZB and HE made, analyzed and interpreted our patient's imaging examinations. MM and TF are the traumatologists whom operated on our patient and made major contributions to the manuscript. The manuscript was prepared by HJ under the supervision of OE and AO. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Abstract
Introduction
Ewing's sarcoma of the calcaneus is rare. About thirty cases with calcaneus involvement have been reported in the literature. Talus skip metastases have rarely been described in the available literature
Case presentation
We report a case of a 14-year-old Moroccan boy, who presented with Ewing's sarcoma of his right calcaneus, diagnosed by swelling of the calcaneus evolving over a year. Radiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed an important tumoral process of the calcaneus and talus skip metastases. The diagnosis was confirmed with histology after a biopsy. In spite of amputation and postoperative chemotherapy, our patient died six months later due to secondary respiratory distress after lung metastasis.
Conclusion
Imaging, especially magnetic resonance, is important in the diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma and skeletal skip metastases. Treatment of Ewing's sarcoma consists of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgical resection depending on the stage and extent of the disease. With the exception of lesions in the calcaneus, the prognosis for disease-free survival of Ewing's sarcoma of the foot is excellent.