Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance in Adult Hospitalized Patients With Cancer: A Multicenter Analysis.

Background: Infections are a leading cause of death in patients with cancer, but the proportion and rate of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in hospitalized patients with cancer are not well understood.

Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional evaluation of AMR assessed hospitalized adult patients in 168 United States (US) healthcare facilities between April 2018 and December 2022. Nonduplicate, noncontaminant Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria recovered from various samples (blood, respiratory, urine, etc.

Prevalence and Factors Associated With Cancer-Related Fatigue Among Children and Adolescents Undergoing Cancer Treatment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: The literature on fatigue in children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment is highly variable, creating uncertainties about its prevalence and identifying those at higher risk.

Objectives: The primary purpose was to describe the prevalence of fatigue among patients (< 21 years) undergoing cancer treatment across cancer types. Secondary outcomes included the prevalence of severe fatigue and factors associated with fatigue.

Systematic Review of Studies Investigating Hospital Readmissions in Pediatric Oncology.

Purpose: This systematic review aimed to identify and synthesize evidence on hospital readmissions among pediatric oncology patients, focusing on the indications, risk factors, and proposed strategies to prevent readmissions.

Method: The review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Databases including Embase, Medline, Scopus, Mendeley, and Google Scholar were searched.

Symptom Screening for Hospitalized Pediatric Patients With Cancer: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Pediatric patients with cancer experience severely bothersome symptoms during treatment. It was hypothesized that symptom screening and provision of symptom reports to the health care team would reduce symptom burden in pediatric patients with cancer.

Objective: To determine if daily symptom screening and provision of symptom reports to the health care team was associated with lower total symptom burden as measured by the Symptom Screening in Pediatrics Tool (SSPedi) compared to usual care among pediatric patients with cancer admitted to a hospital or seen in a clinic daily for at least 5 days.

Transition to Enteral Triazole Antifungal Therapy for Pediatric Invasive Candidiasis: Secondary Analysis of a Multicenter Cohort Study Conducted by the Pediatric Fungal Network.

Of 319 children with invasive candidiasis, 67 (21%) transitioned from intravenous to enteral antifungal therapy. Eight (12%) transitioned back to intravenous antifungal therapy, one due to perceived treatment failure defined by clinical progression or worsening. Global treatment response at study completion was success in 66 participants transitioned to enteral therapy.

Clinical practice guideline-inconsistent chemotherapy-induced vomiting prophylaxis in pediatric cancer patients in community settings: A Children's Oncology Group study.

Background: This study aimed to determine the proportion of patients receiving clinical practice guideline (CPG)-inconsistent care related to chemotherapy-induced vomiting (CIV) prophylaxis, and to describe the association between CPG-inconsistent care and site size. The association between delivery of CPG-inconsistent care and patient outcomes (CIV control, admission prolongation, and unplanned healthcare visits) was also described.

Methods: This was a retrospective study conducted at Children's Oncology Group (COG) National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) sites.

Impact of dexamethasone on transplant-related mortality in pediatric patients: a multi-site, propensity score-weighted, retrospective assessment.

Dexamethasone use during hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) conditioning varies between pediatric centers. This study aimed to estimate the difference in 1-year treatment-related mortality (TRM) between patients who did or did not receive dexamethasone during HCT conditioning. Secondary objectives were to estimate the difference between dexamethasone-exposed and dexamethasone-unexposed groups in 1-year event-free survival (EFS), time to neutrophil engraftment, acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD), and invasive fungal disease (IFD) at day + 100.

Local evidence in sub-Saharan Africa; the CANCaRe Africa experience-Lessons learned and shared thoughts about the way forward.

Collaborative research generating local evidence is key to closing the research and survival gap between sub-Saharan Africa and high-income countries. Lessons learned by CANCaRe Africa, the Collaborative African Network for Childhood Cancer Care and Research while pioneering such research are being discussed together with recommendations for the future.

A multi-center study on the adaptability of a shared foundation model for electronic health records.

Foundation models are transforming artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare by providing modular components adaptable for various downstream tasks, making AI development more scalable and cost-effective. Foundation models for structured electronic health records (EHR), trained on coded medical records from millions of patients, demonstrated benefits including increased performance with fewer training labels, and improved robustness to distribution shifts. However, questions remain on the feasibility of sharing these models across hospitals and their performance in local tasks.

Outcomes of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting guideline adherence in pediatric and adult patients: a systematic review.

Purpose: This study describes chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) control rates in pediatric and adult patients who did or did not receive guideline-consistent CINV prophylaxis.

Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review of studies published in 2000 or later that evaluated CINV control in patients receiving guideline-consistent vs. guideline-inconsistent CINV prophylaxis and reported at least one CINV-related patient outcome.

What Is the Potential Value of a Randomized Trial of Different Thresholds to Initiate Invasive Ventilation? A Health Economic Analysis.

Objectives: To estimate the expected value of undertaking a future randomized controlled trial of thresholds used to initiate invasive ventilation compared with usual care in hypoxemic respiratory failure.

Perspective: Publicly funded healthcare payer.

Setting: Critical care units capable of providing invasive ventilation and unconstrained by resource limitations during usual (nonpandemic) practice.

Healthcare professional perspectives following implementation of an infection management care pathway for pediatric patients with cancer: a qualitative study.

Purpose: The Pediatric Oncology Group of Ontario (POGO) supported an effort to implement infection management care pathways based on clinical practice guidelines, to improve the consistency of infection management in pediatric cancer patients. The objective of this qualitative study was to describe the perspective of healthcare professionals (HCPs) following implementation.

Methods: Four tertiary pediatric oncology centers in Ontario, Canada, implemented the pathways.

Corrigendum: Second malignant neoplasms within 5 years from first primary diagnosis in pediatric oncology patients in Canada: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2024.

Prevention of treatment abandonment remains an important challenge to increase survival of Wilms tumor in sub-Saharan Africa: A report from Wilms Africa-CANCaRe Africa.

Background: The Wilms Africa studies implemented an adapted Wilm's tumor (WT) treatment protocol in sub-Saharan Africa in two phases. Phase I began with four sites and provided out-of-pocket costs. Phase II expanded the number of sites, but lost funding provision.

Clinical Practice Guideline-Inconsistent Management of Fertility Preservation in Pediatric Cancer Patients in Community Settings: A Children's Oncology Group Study.

The primary objective was to measure adherence to clinical practice guideline (CPG) recommendations for fertility preservation (FP) in pediatric cancer patients treated in National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) sites. Secondary objectives were to describe factors such as site size associated with CPG-inconsistent care delivery and cryopreservation completion. This retrospective, multicenter study included patients 15 to 21 years old with a first cancer diagnosis from January 2014 through December 2015 who were previously enrolled to a Children's Oncology Group (COG) study and received care at a participating NCORP site.

Opportunities for Continuing Education by Hematology Societies Available to International Trainees.

Continuing education in hematology is a key for stimulating the development around the world and improving patient outcomes. However, access to training and education is not equally distributed worldwide, and disparities in hematology exist for under-represented groups such as trainees living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To identify and review the different educational and career development opportunities offered by hematology-focused international academic societies directed at healthcare professionals in this field.

Guideline for the management of infection in pediatric patients with cancer and hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients: 2024 update.

Our objective was to update a clinical practice guideline for the prevention and treatment of infection (CDI) in pediatric patients with cancer and hematopoietic cell transplantation recipients. We reconvened an international multi-disciplinary panel. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for the prevention or treatment of CDI in any population was updated and identified 31 new RCTs.

Second malignant neoplasms within 5 years from first primary diagnosis in pediatric oncology patients in Canada: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: From the advancement of treatment of pediatric cancer diagnosis, the five-year survival rate has increased significantly. However, the adverse consequence of improved survival rate is the second malignant neoplasm. Although previous studies provided information on the incidence and risk of SMN in long term survivors of childhood cancer, there is still scarce information known for short term (< 5 years) prognosis.

Brochure intervention to manage bothersome taste changes in pediatric patients receiving cancer therapy.

Background: Primary objective was to determine if a patient informational brochure describing potentially useful strategies could help manage specific taste changes. Secondary objective was to describe the specific strategies used and whether the strategies were perceived as being helpful.

Procedure: This single-center study included pediatric patients with cancer or hematopoietic cell transplant recipients receiving active treatment who experienced bothersome taste changes in the last month.

Characterizing the limitations of using diagnosis codes in the context of machine learning for healthcare.

Background: Diagnostic codes are commonly used as inputs for clinical prediction models, to create labels for prediction tasks, and to identify cohorts for multicenter network studies. However, the coverage rates of diagnostic codes and their variability across institutions are underexplored. The primary objective was to describe lab- and diagnosis-based labels for 7 selected outcomes at three institutions.

Clinical practice guideline-inconsistent management of fever and neutropenia in pediatric oncology: A Children's Oncology Group study.

Background: The primary objective was to measure the proportion of episodes where care delivery was inconsistent with selected recommendations of a clinical practice guideline (CPG) on fever and neutropenia (FN) management. The influence of site size on CPG-inconsistent care delivery, and association between patient outcomes and CPG-inconsistent care were described.

Methods: This retrospective, multicenter study included patients less than 21 years old with cancer who were at high risk of poor FN outcomes and were previously enrolled to a Children's Oncology Group (COG) study at participating National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) institutions from January 2014 through December 2015.

Characteristics of Health Care Settings Where Adolescents and Young Adults Receive Care for ALL.

Purpose: Individuals diagnosed with cancer between 15 and 39 years (adolescent and young adult [AYA]) face unique vulnerability. Detail is lacking about care delivery for these patients, especially those with ALL. We address these knowledge gaps by describing AYA ALL care delivery details at National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) (sub)affiliates by model of care.