A trial looking at irinotecan for children and young people with high risk Ewing's sarcoma or Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour (PNET) (ET 2003 04)

This trial looked at a chemotherapy drug called irinotecan (also called CPT 11 or Campto). It recruited children and young people with Ewings sarcoma or primitive neuroectodermal tumour (PNET) who were at a high risk of their cancer coming back after treatment.

This trial was for children and young people up to the age of 20. We use the term ‘you’ in this summary, but of course if you are a parent, we are referring to your child.

Irinotecan is already used as a standard treatment for adults with bowel cancer. We know from research that irinotecan can kill cancer cells in some types of childhood cancers. Doctors wanted to find out if it helped treat children with Ewings sarcoma and PNET.

Children and young people who took part in this study had already joined the Ewing 99 trial. In this study, children had irinotecan treatment, and then went on to have treatment as part of the Ewing 99 trial. The aim of this study was to find out if irinotecan shrank or stopped the growth of Ewings sarcoma. If so, irinotecan may be tested in future clinical trials to see if it should become part of standard treatment.