Introduction: Despite using aggressive treatment, patients with Ewing's sarcoma (ES) always show a high recurrence and a low survival rate. Ki-67 has been used widely in surgical oncology.
Patients and methods: This case report identified the Ki-67 expression in jaw bone ES from 4 adult patients operated upon between 1996 and 2005 in Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital, Paris, France. The clinical data of each patient was also reviewed.
Results: Ki-67 reactivity was found in 3 cases. Two of 4 patients with 50% and 80% of Ki-67 positive tumour cells had local relapse at 5 years and 8 months after treatments, respectively. Furthermore, the patient with 80% Ki-67 expression exhibited resistance to chemotherapy and died a year after resection. The other 2 cases revealed no evidence of recurrence and metastasis to date.
Conclusion: Ki-67 expression is likely to be associated with tumour recurrence and poor prognosis in jaw bone ES in adult patients. This marker probably helps surgeons to plan and employ appropriate treatment and/or surveillance for each patient; however, the number of cases in this series is very limited. A large-scale, prospective study is, therefore, required to confirm our suggestion.