Effects of Malnutrition on Neutrophil/Mononuclear Cell Apoptotic Functions in Children with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Background: Recent studies claim that apoptosis may explain immune dysfunction observed in malnutrition.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of malnutrition on apoptotic functions of phagocytic cells in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-eight ALL patients (13 with malnutrition) and thirty controls were enrolled.

Accuracy of imaging-guided biopsy in diagnosis of malignancy versus infection.

Aims: Imaging-guided biopsies obtain samples for pathologic testing in addition to therapeutic interventions in patients with cancer. Our aim was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of percutaneous biopsies of pediatric solid tumors and infectious complications of cancer treatment.

Materials And Methods: This study was performed by gathering pediatric oncology patients between 1998 and 2008.

Effects of malnutrition on oxidative burst functions and infection episodes in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of malnutrition on oxidative burst functions (OBF) of neutrophils in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

Materials And Methods: Twenty-eight patients with ALL and thirty healthy controls were enrolled to the study. Thirteen patients with ALL were found to have malnutrition.

Biologic tumor behavior in pilocytic astrocytomas.

Purpose: The aim is to describe the behavior of pilocytic astrocytoma (PAs) and its effects on patient prognosis by using flow cytometric, immunohistochemical and cytogenetic methods. We also aim to find out whether there is any difference between differently localized tumors by the above mentioned analyses.

Methods: We studied DNA index, expression of p53, p16, pRb, MMAC/PTEN1, VEGF, MIB-1 index and chromosomal anomalies which can be detected by array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) technique.

Cardiac effects of granisetron in a prospective crossover randomized dose comparison trial.

Purpose: Cardiac side effects of granisetron have been studied mostly in adult patients that are using cardiotoxic chemotherapeutics. There is limited evidence in pediatric age group and no information in pediatric oncology patients with non-cardiotoxic chemotherapeutics.

Methods: In this prospective, crossover randomized study, the cardiac side effects of granisetron are compared in pediatric oncology patients who had carboplatin based chemotherapy.

Diffusion weighted imaging in predicting progression free survival in patients with squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck treated with induction chemotherapy.

Rationale And Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the role of diffusion-weighted imaging in predicting progression-free survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with induction chemotherapy.

Materials And Methods: Eighteen patients with HNSCC underwent diffusion-weighted imaging studies prior to treatment and within 3 weeks after completion of induction chemotherapy. Median apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were computed from the largest cervical metastatic lymph node.

Defining and ranking effects of individual agents based on survival times of cancer patients treated with combination chemotherapies.

An important problem in oncology is comparing chemotherapy (chemo) agents in terms of their effects on survival or progression-free survival time. When the goal is to evaluate individual agents, a difficulty commonly encountered with observational data is that many patients receive a chemo combination including two or more agents. Because agents given in combination may interact, quantifying the contribution of each individual agent to the combination's overall effect is problematic.

Clinical features and management of carboplatin-related hypersensitivity reactions in pediatric low-grade glioma.

Purpose: The effectiveness of carboplatin and vincristine chemotherapy in the treatment of low-grade glioma (LGG) is well established. However, carboplatin hypersensitivity reactions (CHR) are a major problem leading to premature cessation of therapy. We aimed to investigate the clinical features and the management strategies in CHR, retrospectively.

Which therapy works better in choroid plexus carcinomas?

Choroid plexus carcinomas (CPCs) are rare tumors with dismal outcome. While it has been established that surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy improve survival, the best chemotherapy drugs for treating this disease still need to be identified. Since CPC is too rare to permit a prospective clinical trial, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of individual drugs in patients with CPCs.

Invasive respiratory aspergillosis is a treatable disease with early diagnosis and aggressive therapy.

This study aimed to document outcome of invasive respiratory aspergillosis (IRA) in pediatric malignancy patients. Patients with febrile neutropenia episodes followed between January 2003 and May 2007 were enrolled. Antifungal therapy was added to those who were still febrile on the 5th day of febrile neutropenia treatment.

Malignancy-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in pediatric cases: a multicenter study from Turkey.

This study evaluates the clinical and laboratory data of children with secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH) related to malignancy. Charts of patients who met the diagnostic criteria for sHLH associated with malignancy between January 2000-2006 at six different hospitals in Turkey were reviewed retrospectively. The diagnosis of HLH had been established by bone marrow aspiration in 27 patients, cerebrospinal fluid and bone marrow aspiration in one patient and lung-liver biopsy in another.

Cushing's syndrome due to a non-adrenal ectopic adrenocorticotropin-secreting Ewing's sarcoma in a child.

Ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS) is extremely rare in the pediatric age group. Sarcomatous tumors causing EAS are even rarer. We report a 9 year-old girl presenting with Cushing's syndrome caused by ectopic ACTH production by a Ewing's sarcoma.

Prognostic factors and outcomes for osteosarcoma: an international collaboration.

We aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of traditional clinical predictors in osteosarcoma through an international collaboration of 10 teams of investigators (2680 patients) who participated. In multivariate models the mortality risk increased with older age, presence of metastatic disease at diagnosis, development of local recurrence when the patient was first seen, use of amputation instead of limb salvage/wide resection, employment of unusual treatments, use of chemotherapeutic regimens other than anthracycline and platinum and use of methotrexate. It was also influenced by the site of the tumour.

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia mimicking small round cell tumor with novel t(1;5)(q21;p13).

Acute megakaryoblastic leukemia is a relatively rare form of acute leukemia that has heterogeneous blast morphology and karyotypic abnormalities. An 8-month-old boy with a retroperitoneal mass was diagnosed as having acute megakaryoblastic leukemia that initially presented as small round cell tumor of childhood. Bone marrow aspiration showed syncytial groups of atypical medium sized cells with scant cytoplasm and fine nuclear chromatin.

Nitrosourea efficacy in high-grade glioma: a survival gain analysis summarizing 504 cohorts with 24193 patients.

Even though past studies have suggested efficacy of nitrosourea drugs in patients with high-grade glioma and temozolomide has recently been shown significantly to be beneficial, no conclusive comparisons between these agents have been published. We performed a survival gain analysis of 364 studies describing 24,193 patients with high-grade glioma treated in 504 cohorts, and compared the effects of drugs. The most frequent diagnoses were glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) (72%) and anaplastic astrocytoma (22%).

The effects of iron deficiency on neutrophil/monocyte apoptosis in children.

Objectives: Iron is essential for DNA synthesis; its deficiency may lead to impaired DNA synthesis and subsequent alterations in levels of apoptosis. Here, we have aimed to investigate effects of iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) on apoptotic response of phagocytic cells and to understand whether the effect is reversible after iron supplementation.

Materials And Methods: Forty-nine IDA patients and 26 healthy controls, aged between 6 months and 12 years with similar demographic status, were considered.

Use of recombinant factor VIIa in a preterm infant with coagulopathy and subdural hematoma.

Activated recombinant factor VIIa was administered to a preterm infant with bleeding diasthesis and a huge subdural hematoma that could not be controlled by the blood products. The coagulation tests were normalized the following day. Recombinant factor VIIa can be a choice in selected cases with intractable bleedings unesponsive to conventional replacement therapy.

False positivity of FDG-PET/CT in a child with Hodgkin disease.

Role of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with F-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) in staging of Hodgkin disease is well established despite several controversies. We report a Stage III Hodgkin lymphoma patient with false positive FDG-PET/CT results. Seven-year-old male with Hodgkin lymphoma was in remission at end of chemotherapy.

A double-blind, crossover, randomized dose-comparison trial of granisetron for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and emesis in children receiving moderately emetogenic carboplatin-based chemotherapy.

Background: Granisetron is a safe and effective prophylaxis for nausea and vomiting associated with moderate to highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Few trials have been conducted to determine the optimal effective dose of granisetron in children with cancer. The objective of this report was to compare two doses of granisetron in patients with optic pathway tumors receiving moderately emetogenic doses of carboplatin.

Cardiac echinococcosis with intra-atrial localization.

Echinococcosis is a frequently encountered parasitic disease in the Mediterranean region, including Turkey. Cardiac disease is seen in 0.5-2% of patients.

High-dose ifosfamide in relapsed pediatric osteosarcoma: therapeutic effects and renal toxicity.

Background: Sixteen pediatric osteosarcoma patients, previously treated with conventional chemotherapy (including ifosfamide (IFX), 9 g/m(2)) were retreated with high-dose ifosfamide (HD-IFX, 14 g/m(2) per course), following relapse or development of a new bone tumor. The objective was to obtain responses and an improved event-free survival (EFS).

Procedure: HD-IFX was administered as described by Patel SR: J Clin Oncol 1997;15:2378.

Pichia anomala fungaemia in immunocompromised children.

Pichia anomala is an emerging yeast causing serious nosocomial infections in newborn and immunocompromised children. We describe nosocomial port catheter infection due to P. anomala in three children who were receiving cancer chemotherapy, bloodstream infection in a preterm infant and in an infant with severe combined immunodeficiency.