Search

Background: Despite the presence of reports on correlation between major congenital defects and cancer, very few studies have investigated the frequency of minor anomalies in childhood malignancy. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of minor anomalies in children with hematological malignancy., Procedure: A total of 62 well-defined minor anomalies were determined in 109 patients. The patients were compared with age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects., Results: The results of this study showed that, 64.22% of the patients and 26.6% of the controls had at least one minor anomaly. Among the minor anomalies detected, pigmented nevi and café-au-lait spots were significantly more frequent in the patients. The prevalence of minor anomalies in the patients was significantly higher than that of the controls in the present study., Conclusion: Our results contribute to the understanding of the role of genetic factors in childhood hematological malignancies. Future studies may be directed toward identifying the developmental pathways and the relevant genes that are involved in the overlap between childhood hematological malignancies and minor anomalies., (Copyright © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Background: The aim of our study was to evaluate the long-term effects of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy on lung function in 75 childhood Hodgkin disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) survivors several years after treatment., Patients and Methods: We studied 37 HD and 38 NHL survivors. These patients were divided into two groups according to the treatment protocols applied. Group I consisted of 23 patients who were treated with both chemotherapy and thoracic irradiation and Group II consisted of 52 patients who were treated with chemotherapy and no thoracic irradiation. A detailed history of smoking habits, respiratory symptoms, and diseases was recorded. Complete physical examinations and pulmonary function tests [PFT, including spirometry, lung volume, and diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO)] were performed on all subjects., Results: No patients reported acute or chronic respiratory symptoms or diseases. Pulmonary function abnormality (reduced lung volume and diffusion capacity) was found in 13% of patients at a median 5 years after diagnosis. The percentage of predicted normal value of forced expiratory volume in the 1st sec (FEV(1)), residual volume (RV), and DLCO were significantly lower in Group I than these values for Group II. There were no significant differences in PFT parameters between patients with HD and NHL (P > 0.05). It appears that the risk of reduced lung function was greater the younger the patient in therapy., Conclusion: Chemotherapy or chemo-radiotherapy-induced pulmonary sequalae in childhood may remain asymptomatic for many years., ((c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Background: The goals of this study included: (1) Identification of factors prognostic for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS), and (2) Definition of risk groups for risk adapted therapy in children with Hodgkin disease (HD)., Procedure: From 1991 to 2003, 69 children with newly diagnosed, untreated biopsy-proven stage I-IV HD were treated with chemotherapy (CT) and low-dose involved field radiotherapy (LD-IFRT). The relationship of pretreatment factors to EFS and OS was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis., Results: The 5-year EFS and OS for all patients were 90.77% and 96.22%, respectively with a median follow-up of 73 months (3-137 months). Male to female ratio was 3:1 and 21 children (32.3%) were less than 7 years of age. Mixed cellularity was the predominant histologic subtype (38.5%). Factors associated with inferior EFS by univariate analysis were extranodal disease, hemoglobin level <11 g/dl, number of involved lymph node regions and stage. By multivariate analysis only stage IV disease was significant., Conclusion: Our study confirms that excellent results are achievable with combined modality therapy in childhood HD. In order to use risk-adapted therapy in children with HD, clinical prognostic factors should be validated with large, multicentered prospective clinical studies.