POG 8625: a randomized trial comparing chemotherapy with chemoradiotherapy for children and adolescents with Stages I, IIA, IIIA1 Hodgkin Disease: a report from the Children's Oncology Group.

To determine if 6 courses of chemotherapy alone could achieve the same or better outcome than 4 courses of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy (chemoradiotherapy) in pediatric and adolescent patients with Hodgkin disease. Children < or =21 years old with biopsy-proven, pathologically staged I, IIA, or IIIA1 Hodgkin disease were randomly assigned 6 courses of alternating nitrogen mustard, oncovin, prednisone, and procarbazine/doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (treatment 1) or 4 courses of alternating nitrogen mustard, oncovin, prednisone, and procarbazine/doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine +2550 cGy involved-field radiotherapy (treatment 2). The complete response rate was 89%, with a complete response and partial response rate of 99.

Randomized study of intensive MOPP-ABVD with or without low-dose total-nodal radiation therapy in the treatment of stages IIB, IIIA2, IIIB, and IV Hodgkin's disease in pediatric patients: a Pediatric Oncology Group study.

Purpose: To determine whether the addition of low-dose total-nodal irradiation (TNI) in pediatric patients with advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease who have received eight cycles of alternating mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (MOPP) and doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) will improve the event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) when compared with patients who have received chemotherapy only.

Patients And Methods: At diagnosis, 183 children and adolescents with stages IIB, IIIA2, IIIB, and IV Hodgkin's disease were randomized to receive eight cycles of alternating MOPP-ABVD with or without low-dose TNI.

Results: Of 183 patients, four were rendered ineligible before treatment was initiated.

Continuous communicating esophageal and gastric duplication.

Duplications of the esophagus or stomach alone are infrequent, and complete foregut duplication has only rarely been described. Most combined esophagogastric duplications present within the first year of life, and if communication with the normal alimentary tract does occur, it does so only either above or below the diaphragm. This report illustrates a case of continuous duplication of the esophagus and stomach with communication to the normal alimentary tract at both proximal and distal ends.

Congenital pancreatic pseudocyst: report of two cases.

Pancreatic pseudocysts have not been reported to occur in the fetus or newborn. The authors report two cases of histologically proven pancreatic pseudocysts in neonates, which were detected using prenatal ultrasonography. Surgical management included external marsupialization followed by internal drainage in one case, and excision in the other.

One-stage versus two-stage Soave pull-through for Hirschsprung's disease in the first year of life.

Several investigators have reported good results after a one-stage Soave procedure without a stoma for infants with Hirschsprung's disease. The authors reviewed their concurrent experience with the one- and two-stage approaches, comparing the two groups with respect to rate of complications and clinical outcome. Over a 3-year period, 36 infants with colonic Hirschsprung's disease presenting in the first year of life were treated with a Soave pull-through.