Impact of baseline clinical and laboratory features on the risk of thrombosis in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A prospective evaluation.

Background: Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have increased risk of thromboembolism (TE). However, the predictors of ALL-associated TE are as yet uncertain.

Objective: This exploratory, prospective cohort study evaluated the effects of clinical (age, gender, ALL risk group) and laboratory variables (hematological parameters, ABO blood group, inherited and acquired prothrombotic defects [PDs]) at diagnosis on the development of symptomatic TE (sTE) in children (aged 1 to ≤18) treated on the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute ALL 05-001 study.

Evaluation for inherited and acquired prothrombotic defects predisposing to symptomatic thromboembolism in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a protocol for a prospective, observational, cohort study.

Background: Thromboembolism (TE) is a serious complication in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The incidence of symptomatic thromboembolism is as high as 14% and case fatality rate of ~15%. Further, development of thromboembolism interferes with the scheduled chemotherapy with potential impact on cure rates.

Anthropometry in Long-Term Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Childhood and Adolescence.

Purpose: Body mass index (BMI) is an inadequate measure of nutritional status in children and adolescents with cancer as it does not distinguish muscle from adipose tissue. However, arm anthropometry offers simple assessments of fat mass and lean body mass; especially valuable in low- and middle-income countries where the great majority of young people with cancer live and access to sophisticated expensive measures of body composition is markedly limited.

Methods: The nutritional status of 75 long-term survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia was assessed by arm anthropometry, in addition to BMI, in a cross-sectional cohort study.

Health-related quality of life in long-term survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood and adolescence.

Purpose: Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the commonest form of cancer in this age group, suffer considerable morbidity during treatment, with the majority returning to good health soon after therapy has been completed, as reflected in health-related quality of life (HRQL). However, survivors are at risk of many adverse health outcomes later, including obesity, measured by body mass index (BMI), that is compounded by limited physical activity. This study examined the HRQL of long-term survivors of ALL and its relationship to BMI and physical activity.

Physical Activity in Long-term Survivors of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Childhood and Adolescence: A Cross-sectional Cohort Study.

Inadequate physical activity (PA) and elevated overweight/obesity (OW/OB) rates are common in survivors of cancer in childhood, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Bony morbidity, including fractures, is also prevalent among survivors of ALL. This study examined the interrelationships of PA, measured in hours by the Habitual Activity Estimation Scale; OW/OG, defined by body mass index; and fractures (yes/no) in survivors of ALL (n=75) more than 10 years after diagnosis.

Exploration of Morbidity in a Serial Study of Long-Term Brain Tumor Survivors: A Focus on Pain.

Purpose: Children surviving brain tumors are frequently identified as having substantially decreased health-related quality of life (HRQL) in cross-sectional studies. This study explored the HRQL of a cohort of such survivors, who were recruited as adolescents and followed for a decade, in order to determine the trajectory of their morbidities.

Method: Children diagnosed between January 1, 1985, and December 31, 1998, more than 2 years from diagnosis (N = 40), were recruited in 2000/2001 (T1) aged 16.

Health-related Quality of Life in Long-term Survivors of Brain Tumors in Childhood and Adolescence: A Serial Study Spanning a Decade.

Survivors of brain tumors in childhood experience adverse sequelae that are greater in prevalence and severity than those encountered by survivors of all other forms of cancer in early life, reflected in a burden of morbidity by instruments measuring health-related quality of life (HRQL). However, there are few studies of the change in HRQL over time in such populations. Patients who were above 5 years of age, at least 2 years from completion of therapy, and able to communicate in English were eligible for study of HRQL by the Health Utilities Index HUI2 and HUI3 at study entry, and again 5 and 10 years later.

The development of thromboembolism may increase the risk of osteonecrosis in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Previous studies indicate pathophysiological and epidemiological parallels between osteonecrosis (ON) and thromboembolism (TE), two common treatment-related morbidities in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). To elucidate risk factors for ON and explore the relationship between ON and TE, we undertook a retrospective study of children (n = 208) with ALL. Twenty-one (10.

Body composition and bone health in long-term survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in childhood and adolescence: the protocol for a cross-sectional cohort study.

Introduction: Success in the treatment of young people with cancer, as measured conventionally by survival rates, is mitigated by late effects of therapy that impose a burden of morbidity and limit life expectancy. Among these adverse sequelae are altered body composition, especially obesity, and compromised bone health in the form of osteoporosis and increased fragility. These outcomes are potentially reversible and even preventable.

Sarcopenia in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia experience musculoskeletal morbidity during therapy. We examined the patterns of change in skeletal muscle mass (SMM) and the relationship between change in SMM and the burden of illness as reflected in days of hospitalization. Ninety-one children had dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA scans) during treatment, yielding the sum of lean tissue mass in all 4 limbs; the appendicular lean mass.

Predictors of bony morbidity in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Background: To evaluate the relationship between lumbar spine (LS) bone mineral density (BMD) and patient-, disease-, and therapy-related variables, and to define the risk-factors for fractures in children receiving therapy on Dana-Farber Cancer Institute acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) protocols.

Methods: Children (≤18 years) diagnosed with ALL during the period 1995-2006, who are in first clinical remission, were included (n = 124). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry provided LS-BMD at diagnosis (n = 46) and during continuation therapy.

Nutritional status at diagnosis in children with cancer. 2. An assessment by arm anthropometry.

Assessment of nutritional status in children with cancer is important but measures based on weight can be problematic at diagnosis, especially in those with advanced disease. Likewise, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry may be confounded by other radiological procedures and is not commonly available in low-income countries where most children with cancer live. Arm anthropometry is not subject to these constraints.

Radiation doses originating from diagnostic procedures during the treatment and follow-up of children and adolescents with malignant lymphoma.

Children with malignant lymphoma undergo many diagnostic procedures that involve exposure to ionising radiation. In addition, many, but by no means all, undergo further exposure to ionising radiation during radiotherapy. While therapeutic radiation exposures are prescribed, the extent of radiation exposure arising from diagnostic procedures utilised in such children is largely unknown.

Creatinine as a measure of lean body mass during treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in childhood.

Protein energy malnutrition is well-recognized in children with acute leukemia and may result in loss of lean body mass (LBM) with attendant morbidities. Much of the LBM consists of skeletal muscle, the mass of which is reflected in urinary creatinine excretion. As accurate 24 hours urine collections are challenging in children, we investigated the prospect that serum creatinine concentration provides a measure of LBM.

Nutritional status at diagnosis in children with cancer I. An assessment by dietary recall--compared with body mass index and body composition measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.

The nutritional status of children with cancer is clinically important. In an effort to separate the influences of disease and treatment, we studied children at the time of diagnosis. A total of 99 children underwent assessment by 24 hours dietary recall, measurement of body mass index (BMI), and analysis of body composition by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA scan).

Growth in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia during treatment.

Obesity is increasingly prevalent in affluent societies and portends considerable morbidity. This is especially true in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in whom the metabolic syndrome may begin during therapy, demanding clarification of the trajectory of weight gain so that effective interventions may be developed. In this retrospective study of body mass index from a single institution over a 20-year period, almost 15% of children with ALL were at risk of overweight or frankly overweight (body mass index >85th centile) at diagnosis.

von Willebrand factor and thrombin activation in children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia: an impact of peripheral blasts.

Background: The pathogenesis and the impact of therapy on thrombin activation in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are unknown. Steroids may contribute to ALL-associated thrombosis. We explored the hemostatic effects of methylprednisolone monotherapy (MpMT) (32 mg/m2/day IV x 3 days) in children with newly diagnosed ALL.