Transition of Care for Patients with Thalassemia.

Thalassemia is one of the most common hemoglobinopathies affecting a large number of people in India and other countries of South-East Asia. For patients with most severe form of the disease- Transfusion Dependent Thalassemia (TDT), stem cell transplantation or gene therapy are only curative treatment which are not available to most of the patients because of lack of experts, financial constraints and lack of suitable donors. In such situations, most cases are managed with regular blood transfusion and iron chelation therapy.

Pediatric Liver Abscess: Outcomes of Protocol-based Management and Predictors of Poor Outcome.

Background: Liver abscess (LA) is an important cause of morbidity in children, especially in tropical countries. There is a paucity of data in pediatric LA with no standard guidelines regarding the best modality of treatment and drainage. With a large influx of patients at our center and protocol-based management; we aimed to study clinic-radiologic profile, risk factors, complications and outcomes of children with liver abscess and assessed possible predictors for poor outcomes.

Cell-Based Gene Therapy for b-Thalassemia.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved betibeglogene autotemcel (beti-cel), the first cell-based gene therapy for adult and pediatric patients with b-thalassemia in August, 2022. This update details this and other novel therapies that have emerged in the treatment of b-thalassemia, apart from transfusion and iron chelation, with particular focus on newly approved gene therapy.

Shared care for children with cancer in India through social and healthcare partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID pandemic posed a challenge for the tertiary centers to continue treatment. Some tertiary centers were designated as COVID-only hospitals, making it difficult for existing childhood cancer patients to continue their treatment at those centres. The need for shared care in childhood cancer was perceived by Cankids and its partnering childhood cancer-treating centers in North and East India.

Pediatric Coronavirus Disease 2019: Clinical Features and Management.

There is a lack of clarity regarding management of COVID-19 infection in children. This review aims to summarize the key clinical presentations and management of Pediatric COVID-19. The Medline database was searched for seminal articles and guidelines on COVID-19 presentation and management in children less than 18 years of age.

Immune Thrombocytopenia: American Society of Hematology Guidelines, 2019.

Immune Thrombocytopenia is the commonest cause of thrombocytopenia in young children. A thorough history, examination and peripheral smear evaluation is central to diagnosis. The recent American Society of Hematology guidelines 2019, has shed light on diagnosis and management based on latest available literature.

National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network has recently published the first pediatric guidelines for the management of children, adolescent and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The recommendations for diagnosis, work up, genetic evaluation, treatment and follow up of pediatric ALL have been provided. Genetic risk factors and newer therapeutic agents have been discussed.

Medical Education Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken the mankind to its core. Social distancing is the most important preventive strategy for the spread of this contagion, short of a vaccine. Implementation of the same has forced many countries in to a complete lock-down.

Crisponi/cold-induced sweating syndrome: Differential diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment concepts.

Crisponi/cold-induced sweating syndrome (CS/CISS) is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by hyperthermia, camptodactyly, feeding and respiratory difficulties often leading to sudden death in the neonatal period. The affected individuals who survived the first critical years of life, develop cold-induced sweating and scoliosis in early childhood. The disease is caused by variants in the CRLF1 or in the CLCF1 gene.

Addition of Questions on Parental Factors to the WHO (Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses) IMCI-HIV Algorithm Improves the Utility of the Algorithm for Diagnosis of HIV Infection in Children.

The WHO Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses-HIV (IMCI-HIV) algorithm and its regional adaptation have shown variable performance in clinically identifying HIV-infected children with lack of validation in low prevalence areas. Addition of certain 'parental factors' (proxy indicators of parental HIV) may improve its utility. In this study, children aged 2 months to 5 years were enrolled into Group A (n = 1000, 'suspected symptomatic HIV infected' children as per the IMNCI-HIV algorithm) and group B (n = 50, children newly diagnosed with HIV infection).