Adaptive functioning in children in the first six months after surgery for brain tumours.

Purpose: To examine the adaptive functioning of children who underwent surgery for brain tumours with a view to analyse the related acute impairments and to describe their short-term outcome.

Method: We investigated adaptive functioning in 25 children (ranging from 2 to 18 years of age) for 40 days and again 3 and 6 months after they underwent surgery for various brain tumours. The Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) were used to assess their adaptive functioning, considering the four main domains and all the subdomains.

Successful treatment of trilateral retinoblastoma with conventional and high-dose chemotherapy plus radiotherapy: a case report.

Trilateral retinoblastoma (TRB) is a rare condition characterized by an intracranial neuroblastic tumor associated with bilateral or unilateral retinoblastoma (RB). The outcome is almost always fatal. An 18-month-old patient with familial bilateral RB was referred for a pineal lesion detected on a screening by magnetic resonance imaging.

Infant ependymoma in a 10-year AIEOP (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica) experience with omitted or deferred radiotherapy.

Purpose: The protocols of the 1990s omitted or delayed irradiation, using upfront chemotherapy to spare the youngest children with ependymoma the sequelae of radiotherapy (RT). We treated 41 children under the age of 3 years with intracranial ependymoma between 1994 and 2003.

Patients And Methods: After surgery, chemotherapy was given as follows: regimen I with four blocks of vincristine, high-dose methotrexate 5 g/m(2), and cyclophosphamide 1.

A complex karyotype including a t(2;11) in a paediatric ependymoma: case report and review of the literature.

Ependymomas are glial tumours representing approximately 5-10% of all intracranial tumours and are the third most common primary brain tumour in childhood. Only a few karyotypic studies on paediatric ependymomas have been published and no specific chromosomal aberration has been specifically related to this type of cancer. We performed cytogenetic analysis of an ependymoma in an 11-year-old boy.

Medulloblastoma variants: age-dependent occurrence and relation to Gorlin syndrome--a new clinical perspective.

Purpose: We aimed to test the hypothesis that medulloblastoma (MB) variants show a different age distribution and clinical behavior reflecting their specific biology, and that MB occurring at very young age is associated with cancer predisposition syndromes such as Gorlin syndrome (GS).

Experimental Design: We investigated the frequency, age distribution, location, response to treatment, outcome, and association with familial cancer predisposition syndromes in a series of 82 cases of MB in patients ages <14 years diagnosed at the Giannina Gaslini Children's Hospital, Genoa, between 1987 and 2004.

Results: Desmoplastic MB and MB with extensive nodularity (MBEN), were present in 22 of 82 cases (27%) and were more frequent in children ages View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Epithelioid osteosarcoma of the jaw.

Epithelioid osteosarcoma (OS) is a rare sub-type of OS with an aggressive behavior. An epithelioid OS was diagnosed in an 8-year-old female with painful swelling of the left jaw. After two courses of chemotherapy (cisplatin/methotrexate/doxorubicin), the patient presented a progressive disease.

Use of ICF to describe functioning and disability in children with brain tumours.

Purpose: To underline the importance of Environmental Factors for reducing Disability and to demonstrate the complex condition of life, especially in terms of social inclusion and participation for children and adolescents affected by brain tumour.

Method: An observational study applying the ICF version for Children and Youth (ICF-CY), the quality of life KIDSCREEN questionnaires and the Vineland assessment was performed. Age-specific ICF-CY Questionnaires were used to interview children at three time-points.

A multimodal strategy based on surgery, radiotherapy, ICE regimen and high dose chemotherapy in atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumours: a single institution experience.

Purpose: Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumour is a rare and aggressive childhood tumour. The outcome of a series treated with the same multimodal strategy was reported.

Patients: The patients were treated with surgery, 2 courses of ifosfamide/carboplatin/etoposide(ICE), 2 courses of cyclophosphamide/etoposide/carboplatino/thiotepa (CECAT) or 2 other ICE courses, high dose chemotherapy (HDC) and radiotherapy.

Acquired amnesia in childhood: a single case study.

We report the case of C.L., an 8-year-old child who, following the surgical removal of an ependymoma from the left cerebral ventricle at the age of 4 years, developed significant difficulties in retaining day-to-day events and information.

Antibiotic lock with vancomycin and urokinase can successfully treat colonized central venous catheters in pediatric cancer patients.

We used an antibiotic lock technique with vancomycin in combination with urokinase in 10 consecutive eligible children with Gram-positive catheter-related bacteremia persisting after appropriate intravenous antibiotics. Treatment was successful in sterilizing all colonized central venous catheters, avoiding device removal and delay of further chemotherapy. The antibiotic lock technique may represent a safe and effective therapeutic option in patients with selected, uncomplicated catheter-related bacteremias resistant to systemic antimicrobial therapy, particularly when maintaining a venous access is mandatory.

Hyperfractionated radiotherapy and chemotherapy for childhood ependymoma: final results of the first prospective AIEOP (Associazione Italiana di Ematologia-Oncologia Pediatrica) study.

Purpose: A postsurgical "stage-based" protocol for ependymoma was designed.

Methods And Materials: Children were given: (1) focal hyperfractionated radiotherapy (HFRT) if with no evidence of disease (NED), or (2) 4 courses with VEC followed by HFRT for residual disease (ED). HFRT dose was 70.