Magnetic resonance imaging in childhood leukemia survivors treated with cranial radiotherapy: a cross sectional, single center study.

Background: Children treated with cranial radiotherapy (CRT) for leukemia are at risk of developing central nervous system injuries. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) represents the examination method of choice for evaluating radiation-induced brain complications. The purpose of this report is to describe the spectrum of MRI abnormalities detected in a group of survivors of leukemia treated with cranial irradiation.

Subclinical cardiac dysfunction and exercise performance in childhood cancer survivors.

Background: Although anthracycline cardiotoxicity is clearly related to the cumulative dose administered, subclinical cardiac dysfunction has been reported across a wide range of treatment regimens, and its clinical significance is still unclear. Purpose of this study is to investigate by exercise echocardiography for subclinical cardiac dysfunction in survivors of pediatric cancer treated with low-moderate anthracycline doses, and to evaluate whether it may alter the response of the cardiovascular system to dynamic exercise.

Procedure: Post-exercise left ventricular end-systolic wall stress (ESS), left ventricular posterior wall dimension and percent thickening at end systole, and cardiopulmonary exercise test-derived indexes of cardiac function were examined in 55 apparently healthy patients (mean age 13.

Survival after relapse in children with solid tumors: a follow-up study from the Italian off-therapy registry.

Background: Despite the increased survival of children with solid tumors, a significant proportion of cases still relapse following treatment discontinuation, and knowledge about the long-term outcome of this selected group of patients remains incomplete.

Objective: To describe the long-term outcome of children treated for a solid tumor who relapsed after the elective end of therapy, and to explore factors associated with survival.

Methods: All patients with the selected diagnoses-Hodgkin disease (HD), neuroblastoma (NB), tumor of the central nervous system (CNS), Wilms tumor (WT), or soft tissue sarcoma (STS)-enrolled in the Italian Pediatric Off-Therapy Registry in the period 1980-1998 were evaluated.

Helicobacter pylori as cause of gastrointestinal disease in children with hemato-oncologic diseases.

After documentation of a case of life threatening Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) gastric ulcer in an adolescent girl on treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, we started to systematically look for gastro-intestinal symptoms due to H. pylori infection in our cancer patients at G.

Role of active follow-up for early diagnosis of relapse after elective end of therapies.

Objective: To evaluate the role of active follow-up for the detection of relapses occurring after completion of therapy in children with cancer.

Methods: The clinical records of all children who had a cancer relapse more than 3 months after the end of therapies in the period 1985-2000 were reviewed. Relapses were defined "diagnosed at a scheduled visit" or "at an unscheduled visit" based upon how the visit that lead to the suspected diagnosis was scheduled.

Re-immunisation schedule in leukaemic children after intensive chemotherapy: a possible strategy.

The aim of this retrospective study was to test the residual humoral immunity to compulsory vaccines after the end of chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in a cohort of 70 Italian children. All the patients, who had been immunised according to the Italian schedule prior to the disease, were tested for antibody levels against tetanus and hepatitis B at a median of 10 months after the end of therapy. Median age at diagnosis of leukaemia was 48 months, and median age at vaccine titration was 84 months.