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Purpose.The aim of the study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and contributing factors among parents of children with solid tumors in Serbia.Methods.The cross-sectional study included 51 parents of children treated for different solid tumors at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia. Parents filled out validated Serbian version of SF-36 questionnaire. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify predictors of total score of SF-36.Results.Almost all parents (94.1%) were mothers and average age was 38.6 ± 6.7years. Majority of children had brain tumors (43.1%), followed by bone tumors (37.3%). The hierarchical regression analysis showed that socio-demographic characteristics explained 26% of the variance (p > 0.05) of the total score of SF-36. Addition of quality of life of children assessed by parents in the second model caused an increase of 21% in the variance explained (p p&thinsp

Objectives: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma is a rare malignancy in children. The aim of this study was to provide analysis of children with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated in a single institution. Methods and materials: Between 1999 and 2016, fourteen pediatric patients with a diagnosis of undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma were treated in our institution, and the patients' clinical characteristics, treatment modality, outcome, and toxicity were analyzed. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 15,5 years. The gender ratio was 1:1. The majority of patients had regionally and/or locally advanced tumors and one had bone metastases at the time of diagnosis. All patients received chemotherapy before radiotherapy, with partial response in thirteen patients and complete response in one. Radiation dose to the primary tumor and involved cervical lymph nodes was 55-60 Gy, uninvolved cervical and supraclavicular regions received prophylactic radiation with dose of 45-50 Gy. Ten patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. Three-year progression-free rate and three-year overall survival (OS) rates were 75% and 73% respectively. Five-year progression-free rate was 65% and OS 63% respectively, and after ten years progression-free rate and OS remained the same. At the end of follow-up period, ten patients were alive, and four died. All of the patients that had distant metastases died. Most common late complications were skin fibrosis and xerostomia. Conclusions: Multimodal therapy of children with nasopharyngeal carcinoma is associated with long-term survival. It is expected that further advances in the management of these patients, with improved radiotherapy and chemotherapy, will reduce acute and late toxicity and improve quality of life of treated children.

PURPOSE: The aim of our study is to evaluate results of treatment and to develop optimized treatment in children with Germinoma of Central nervous system (CNS). METHOD: Between 2001 and 2013., in Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia we treated 9 patients with CNS Germinoma. The patients median age was 13 years (range 8 -18 yrs), and the male to female ratio was 8:1. A solitary tumor was found in pineal region (3 pts), in region ventriculi III and region supraselaris (2 pts), in one patient in region thalami, in one patient in region mesencephalon and 1 patient has leptomeningeal dissemination. Two patients had elevated B_HCG level in cerebrospinal fluid. After surgery (6 biopsy and 3 gross total resection) all patients received the boost to the primary tumor bed with additional prophylactic therapy to the craniospinal axis. Three patients (33,3 %) were treated with radiotherapy only and six pts (66,7%) were treated by using multimodal therapeutic approach including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Two patients were treated according to SIOP GSCT trial - both achieved complete response (CR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. After irradiation patient with disseminated disease had also no residual tumor and afterwards he received 4 cycles of PEI regimen. One patient received 4 cycles of PEI regimen, also with complete response, followed by irradiation; one patient received only 2 cycles of SIOP GSCT regimen after irradiation (because of hematological toxicity); one patient received 1 cycle of PEI regimen, followed by irradiation and due to chematological toxicity, 3 cycles of Carboplatinum, Etoposid. RESULTS: All patients, treated either with radiotherapy or with radio and chemotherapy, remained disease free during the 20 to 146 months follow-up period (Me= 50 months). CONCLUSION: Results indicate that intracranial germinoma are highly radio and chemosensitive tumors. These excellent results suggest that ongoing trials are needed so to optimize treatment strategy in an effort to minimize late effects of therapy.