High dose methotrexate for pediatric high grade glioma: results of the HIT-GBM-D pilot study.

We conducted a phase II study to test methotrexate (5 g/m(2)), as a single agent prior to radiochemotherapy for pediatric high-grade glioma and diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Thirty patients (19 male, median age 10.8) were enrolled.

Secondary prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections with combination antifungal therapy and G-CSF-mobilized granulocyte transfusions in three children with hematological malignancies.

Fungal infections represent a life-threatening complication for patients receiving chemotherapy or undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Historically, antifungal monotherapy is associated with a poor outcome. We treated three children with hematological malignancies and proven fungal infections (one cerebral mold infection, one disseminated Candida infection, one naso-pharyngeal mucor infection) with combination antifungal therapy plus granulocyte-colony-stimulation-factor-mobilized granulocyte transfusions as secondary prophylaxis during subsequent neutropenic episodes.

Multiple spleen and liver abscesses due to Yersinia enterocolitica septicemia in a child with congenital sideroblastic anemia.

In patients with iron overload, opportunistic infections are an underestimated risk. Yersinia enterocolitica is a rare organism to be isolated in this setting. The authors report a case of disseminated Y.