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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the epidemiological, microbiological, clinical characteristics of the patients followed up with different types of underlying hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Method: This cohort study included patients with pediatric malignancy. Eighty-eight patients who were followed up for two years were included. The number of days from the first diagnosis, recurrent infectious episodes, number of days with fever, presence of neutropenia and nonneutropenic episodes, chemotherapy regimens, antimicrobial agents, blood and urinary tract culture samples were recorded. Results: A total of 149 infectious episodes were observed. The median age was 5.08 years. The mean age was 9.02+-5.17 years in patients who had no infectious episodes during the follow-up and 5.70+-4.60 years in patients with two and more infectious episodes and was significantly lower (p=0.024). In total, 264 microbial cultures were retrieved from different locations during these infectious episodes. Regarding all the cultures, 27% of blood cultures and 9% of urinary tract cultures were positive. The most commonly isolated microorganism were Grampositive bacteria (n=23, 57.5%). Conclusion: Younger children with cancer are at higher risk of infection complications compared to children of older ages. Children with hematologic malignancies are more likely to develop a neutropenic fever during the consolidation and induction periods. Regarding the high rate of FUO in our study, more attempts to increase microbiological diagnosis in this patient population.

Objective: Patients with Noonan syndrome (NS), who may need various surgical interventions throughout their lives, need to be evaluated carefully in the preoperative period due to the risk of bleeding diathesis. There is a limited number of studies evaluating bleeding diathesis in patients with NS. In this study, we aimed to determine the frequency of bleeding diathesis in patients with NS and to evaluate the place of thromboelastography (TEG) in determining the risk of bleeding. Method: In our study, bleeding score and coagulation test results obtained from the files of 12 patients with NS were evaluated. Results: The most frequently detected factor deficiency is vWF deficiency (41%), followed by platelet dysfunction (33%). Two cases with a bleeding score of 2 or above were detected, and in one of them, both platelet dysfunction (response to epinephrine in platelet aggregometer, 7%) and vWF deficiency (vWF Ag: 20%), and in the other case, mild Factor VII deficiency (17%) were detected. TEG results of nine patients were normal. TEG abnormality was detected in three patients and 2 of them had bleeding phenotype. Conclusion: As a result, although laboratory examinations in patients with NS often yield values consistent with bleeding diathesis, bleeding event does not occur in most patients. We suggest that with the use of the TEG method, the risk of bleeding can be predicted and unnecessary treatments can be prevented.

Objective: Infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality for patients with congenital neutropenia. In the present study, we report on the incidence, type, localization of documented infections, as well as the clinical features and long-term outcome in patients with congenital neutropenia in our clinic. Method: We performed a retrospective chart review of children with neutropenia seen at our hospital from 2000-2018. The data of 15 patients with congenital neutropenia were included in this study. Clinical and laboratory data were analyzed retrospectively using patients' files and an electronic data system. Results: The median age at diagnosis was 34 months (range, four months- 150 months) and the median follow-up time was 48 months (range, 13-179 months). The leading causes of hospital admission before the establishment of the diagnosis were upper respiratory tract infection in six, pneumonia in four, gingival stomatitis in three and soft tissue infection in two patients. We reached the documented 74 hospitalization episodes and the most common reasons for hospitalization were pneumonia (35%), fever (21%), stomatitis (16%), cutaneous and deep soft tissue infections (12%). Conclusion: The management of infectious complications in children with congenital neutropenia is crucial. Early diagnosis is essential to prevent infections and permanent organ damage. Congenital neutropenia should be suspected in patients with a history of frequent upper respiratory tract infection, and necessary investigations should be performed accordingly. However, it should be kept in mind that the clinical findings of the patients may vary despite having the same mutation.

Objective: There are a limited number of studies evaluating iron overload in childhood leukemia by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of this study was to determine liver iron content (LIC) by MRI in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who had completed treatment and to compare those values with serum iron parameters. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 patients between the ages of 7 and 18 who had completed ALL treatment were included in the study. Serum iron parameters (serum iron, serum ferritin [SF], and total ironbinding capacity) and liver function tests were studied. R2 MRI was performed for determining LIC. Results: Normal LIC was detected in 22 (63.4%) of the cases. Seven (23.3%) had mild and 1 (3.3%) had moderate liver iron deposition. In contrast, severe iron overload was not detected in any of the cases. LIC levels were correlated with the numbers of packed red blood cell (pRBC) transfusions (r=0.637, p