Dr. Kaplan on the Treatment of Pediatric Patients With Sarcoma

Rosandra N. Kaplan, MD, investigator, Pediatric Oncology Branch, Head, Tumor Microenvironment Section, National Cancer Institute, discusses the treatment of pediatric patients with sarcoma.

There is very good upfront therapy available for pediatric patients with osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and rhabdoid myosarcoma, Kaplan says. Multimodality chemotherapy—often with radiation and surgery—is the standard of care for these patients, and the majority will respond and do well. Kaplan says that there remains a subset of patients who do not respond and have recurrent or metastatic disease.

The options for the treatment of pediatric patients with recurrent or metastatic sarcoma are limited. Overall, the patients are healthy because they are young and fit, but they continue to fail on the limited therapies that are available and grow more resistant to chemotherapy as time goes on. Kaplan says that if resistance is better understood in both the tumor cell and the microenvironment, therapies can be used more effectively.