Ewing sarcoma of the chest wall

Ewing sarcoma family of tumours (ESFT), also referred as Ewing sarcomas of the chest wall, are malignant tumours affecting children and young adults, originating either from the osseous structures or the soft tissues of the chest wall. On imaging, they are usually characterised as large extrapulmonary invasive soft tissue masses that are heterogeneous due to the presence of haemorrhage, necrosis, or cystic changes.

Small round blue cell tumours are a large number of tumours that share similar histology, composed of relatively uniform primitive small round blue cells. They also share many demographic, radiographic and clinical similarities.

Originally a small round blue cell tumour of the soft tissues of the chest was described and became known as an Askin tumour or peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour (pPNET). All three entities are now thought to belong to the same tumour family, now referred to as the Ewing sarcoma family of tumours (ESFT).