Publications by authors named "Gerard Millen"
Background: Retinoblastoma (Rb) is the most common intraocular malignancy of childhood. The prognosis in Rb directly relates to the spread of disease beyond the eye, particularly to the central nervous system. Therefore, until the recent past, surgically entering an eye with active or recently active Rb was absolutely contraindicated in most centres around the world due to the risk of iatrogenic extraocular spread.
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- * A study reviewed 29 infants treated with carboplatin in the UK, showing that therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) enabled real-time dosing adjustments, improving treatment outcomes.
- * The results indicated that TDM significantly reduced the risk of under or over-dosing and led to effective treatment responses with minimal side effects, suggesting it should be standard care for infants under 6 months with retinoblastoma.
Article Synopsis
- Identifying somatic variations is essential for proving the heritability of retinoblastoma, and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from aqueous humour (AH) can help when tumor DNA isn't available.
- In a study of 75 AH samples from 68 patients, researchers found that cfDNA concentration varies greatly and correlates with when the AH is collected.
- Early sampling after a few cycles of chemotherapy significantly improves cfDNA concentration and enables the detection of a high percentage of expected pathogenic variants, highlighting its importance in patient treatment.
Most children with high-risk Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) have BRAFV600E mutation. BRAFV600E alleles are detectable in myeloid mononuclear cells at diagnosis but it is not known if the cellular distribution of mutation evolves over time. Here, the profiles of 16 patients with high-risk disease were analyzed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Children with cancer are not at increased risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection; however, adults with haematological malignancies have increased risk of severe infections compared with non-haematological malignancies.
Methods: We compared patients with haematological and non-haematological malignancies enrolled in the UK Paediatric Coronavirus Cancer Monitoring Project between 12 March 2020 and 16 February 2021. Children who received stem cell transplantation were excluded.
The Care of Children With Cancer During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book
March 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has considerably changed health services for children with cancer worldwide by creating barriers throughout the care continuum. Reports available at this time suggest that asymptomatic and mild upper and lower respiratory tract syndromes are the most common presentation of COVID-19 in children with cancer. Nonetheless, severe cases of COVID-19 and deaths secondary to the infection have been reported.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Children with cancer are frequently immunocompromised. While children are generally thought to be at less risk of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection than adults, comprehensive population-based evidence for the risk in children with cancer is unavailable. We aimed to produce evidence of the incidence and outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 in children with cancer attending all hospitals treating this population across the UK.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdaptive trial designs: what is the continual reassessment method?
Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed
June 2021
Adaptive trial designs: what are multiarm, multistage trials?
Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed
December 2020