Pediatric Cancers

A study showed that testing pediatric brain tumors for genetic abnormalities is feasible and could play a role in guiding patients’ treatment.

Many childhood brain tumors harbor potentially targetable gene mutations, according to a prospective single-institution study of more than 200 tumor samples, researchers reported in the journal Neuro-Oncology.

Presentation with musculoskeletal manifestations as the only symptom in pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia was significantly associated with diagnostic delay. However, this delay did not affect patient prognosis.

The use of minimal residual disease provided a more objective measure of induction failure in patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia than did morphology.

The antioxidant sodium thiosulfate protects children and adolescents against cisplatin-induced hearing loss without any added serious adverse effects, according to a randomized study.

Among pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients who have favorable prognosis, an attempt to reduce the burden of chemotherapy by using lower intensity delayed intensification failed to show better outcomes.

As part of our coverage of the ASH Annual Meeting held December 3rd to 6th in San Diego, today we are speaking with Kim Nichols, MD, director of the Cancer Predisposition Division at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. At this year’s meeting, Dr. Nichols will be participating in a session on genetic susceptibility to leukemia.

In this interview we discuss updates, challenges, and contributing factors associated with pediatric brain cancers.

Single-agent blinatumomab demonstrated antileukemia activity in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) in a recently published phase I/II study.

Despite evolution of treatments and substantial improvements in survival, the self-reported health status among adult survivors of childhood cancers has not improved over 3 decades.

Use of the targeted therapy dabrafenib resulted in a high overall response rate and was well tolerated in a small phase I/II study of pediatric BRAF V600-mutant low-grade glioma.

The use of an intensified treatment regimen to treat metastatic medulloblastoma in children and adolescents conferred an overall favorable survival, according to the results of a recent study. However, patients within varying subgroups and with certain biologic parameters did not have uniform outcomes.

In children with primary brain tumors who were treated with cranial radiation, cerebral volume and radiation dose may affect the rate of vocabulary development.

Survivors of childhood cancers are at significantly increased risk of cardiotoxicity if treated with anthracyclines, according to a new review of the literature.

Vinblastine monotherapy produced outcomes similar to current therapies in children with treatment-naive pediatric low-grade glioma, and had favorable toxicity and quality-of-life profiles.

Patients with different molecular subtypes of medulloblastoma, a common type of childhood brain tumor, have varying decline in brain function following radiation therapy for their disease.

Dietary, pet, and social contact restrictions did not have any effect on infectious complications in children undergoing intensive treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

This review will discuss examples of clinical applications of tumor and germline genomic testing for children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors, as well as promising investigative strategies.

Thyroid lesions identified in pediatric patients were often found to have one of the molecular abnormalities commonly seen in adults with thyroid lesions.

A significant number of children who have completed treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia may be experiencing anxiety or depression, according to a new study.

A 2-month-old child with a history of tuberous sclerosis presents with a cardiac lesion. After a biopsy is performed, what is your diagnosis?

Although a child’s socioeconomic status did not seem to significantly affect 5-year overall survival ALL, those children who were from high-poverty areas experienced early relapse compared with children who were from low-poverty areas.

There was no significant difference in the decline in IQ score over time between pediatric brain tumor patients treated with either photon radiation or proton beam radiation therapy, according to a new study.

Regular ultrasound surveillance of the thyroid revealed that about 7% of adult childhood cancer survivors who had radiation to the head or neck subsequently developed thyroid cancer.

Adult survivors of childhood astroglial tumors with significant vision loss are more likely to suffer various psychological and socioeconomic impacts such as unemployment.

Children with acute lymphocytic leukemia and their parents commonly over-report the amount of daily oral chemotherapy the child takes to treat the most common blood cancer in children.

Genetic variants increase the risk of osteonecrosis in children under age 10 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Researchers have identified a genetic variant, 2R thymidylate synthase polymorphism, that is associated with an increased risk for avascular necrosis in children with ALL.

Targeted MAPK-pathway inhibitor therapies appear to have reduced tumor sizes in four children’s inoperable astrocytomas-tumors that had progressed despite chemotherapy.

PEG-asparaginase had both similar safety and efficacy to intramuscular native E coli l-asparaginase for the treatment of children with ALL in complete remission.