April 9, 2020

TMUH team treats rarely seen Ewing's sarcoma

[Photo: Student Gu (middle) receives a gift of flowers from the TMUH team]

A student surnamed Gu, from Guizhou in China, had difficulty breathing for several weeks due to unknown causes. Gu first went to a major hospital in Shanghai for testing, but couldn’t wait for the test results to come back. Gu’s condition continued to worsen, so a trip to Taiwan for further treatment was necessary.

Did you know?

Ewing’s sarcoma is a type of pediatric malignant cancer that usually occurs in people younger than 20 years of age. The rate of occurrence is 0.1 people per 100,000, making it a rare disease. If the disease remains untreated, it can quickly become fatal.

While giving Gu chemotherapy, Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) also invited experts from a variety of fields to join the treatment team. Members included current TMUH Vice Superintendent Yu-Chung Wu (then-Taipei Veterans General Hospital Chief of Thoracic Medicine), and world-renowned pediatric cancer authority and Ewing’s sarcoma expert Prof. James Miser. They did periodic follow-up on the patient’s status, and joined Gu in the long-term fight against the disease. After more than 4 months of chemotherapy, the treatment team considered the patient’s condition to have tentatively stabilized, so in October of the same year, cancer surgery was performed, with post-surgical follow-up chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Finally, after a long treatment period, Gu finished all the procedures in January 2020 and was discharged by the treatment team to return home.