Survival rates and extra-regional migration patterns of children and adolescents with cancer in Italy: The 30-year experience of the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) with the Italian hospital-based registry of pediatric cancer (Mod. 1.01).

Since the 1970s, Italian pediatric oncologists have collaborated through the Italian Association for Pediatric Hematology Oncology (AIEOP) network using a common centralized system for the registration of childhood cancer, known as Model 1.01 (Mod. 1.

Phase II Study of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Children with High-Risk Neuroblastoma Using a Reduced-Intensity Conditioning Regimen: Results from the AIEOP Trial.

Despite aggressive multimodal treatment, the outcomes of pediatric patients with high-risk (HR) neuroblastoma (NB) remain poor. The rationale for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) to treat NB was based on the possible graft-versus-tumor effect; however, toxicity limits its efficacy. We sought to prospectively assess the feasibility and efficacy of allo-HCT using a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen in pediatric patients with HR NB in a multicenter phase II trial.

Healthcare migration in Italian paediatric haematology-oncology centres belonging to AIEOP.

Background: In Italy, there is a network of centres headed by the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) for the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric cancers on almost the entire national territory. Nevertheless, migration of patients in a hospital located in a region different from that of residence is a widespread habit, sometimes motivated by several reasons. The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of migration of children with cancer to AIEOP centres in order to verify their optimal distribution throughout the national territory.

Development and Initial Validation of the ONCOREUM Score to Differentiate Childhood Cancer with Arthropathy from Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Objective: To develop and validate a weighted score, the ONCOREUM score, that aids physicians in differentiation of cancer with arthropathy from juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA).

Study Design: Data were extracted from the ONCOREUM Study, a multicenter, cross-sectional investigation aimed at comparing children with cancer and arthropathy to children with JIA. Three statistical approaches were applied to develop the ONCOREUM score and assess the role of each variable in the diagnosis of cancer with arthropathy, including 2 approaches based on multivariable stepwise selection (models 1 and 2) and 1 approach on a Bayesian model averaging method (model 3).

[Incidence of cancer among children and adolescents (0-19 years) in Lazio Region (Central Italy), 2009-2015].

Objectives: to investigate, for the first time, the incidence of cancer (years 2009-2015) and geographical distribution among children and adolescents with cancer diagnosis in Lazio Region (Central Italy).

Design: to compute incidence rates of childhood cancers from Lazio Region Childhood Cancer Registry (LRCCR) database, established in 2015, and to compare results with national figures for 2012 provided by the Italian cancer registries network (AIRTUM).

Setting And Participants: all new cases of malignant tumours (behaviour: /3 of ICD-O-3 classification) and all central nervous system tumours were selected, regardless of behaviour (/0, /1, /3) in children and adolescents (0-19 years) registered in the LRCCR data base.

Musculoskeletal manifestations of childhood cancer and differential diagnosis with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (ONCOREUM): a multicentre, cross-sectional study.

Background: Presenting symptoms of childhood cancers might mimic those of rheumatic diseases. However, the evidence available to guide differential diagnosis remains scarce. Preventing wrong or delayed diagnosis is therefore important to avoid incorrect administration of glucocorticoid or immunosuppressive therapy and worsening of prognosis.

Immune cytopenias as a continuum in inborn errors of immunity: An in-depth clinical and immunological exploration.

Background: Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA), and autoimmune neutropenia (AIN) are disorders characterized by immune-mediated destruction of hematopoietic cell lineages. A link between pediatric immune cytopenias and inborn errors of immunity (IEI) was established in particular in the combined and chronic forms.

Objective: Aim of this study is to provide clinical-immunological parameters to hematologists useful for a prompt identification of children with immune cytopenias deserving a deeper immunological and genetic evaluation.

Concordance between paediatric self-reports and parent proxy reports on fatigue: A multicentre prospective longitudinal study.

Purpose: To investigate the degree of concordance on fatigue assessment between children and adolescents with cancer and their parents, and its changes over time.

Method: Multicentre longitudinal study.

Results: Data from 134 dyads were analysed.

The Italian Registry for Primary Immunodeficiencies (Italian Primary Immunodeficiency Network; IPINet): Twenty Years of Experience (1999-2019).

Primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs) are heterogeneous disorders, characterized by variable clinical and immunological features. National PID registries offer useful insights on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and natural history of these disorders. In 1999, the Italian network for primary immunodeficiencies (IPINet) was established.

Comparison of Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Children and Adolescents. A Twenty Year Experience with MH'96 and LH2004 AIEOP (Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology) Protocols.

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) represent a distinct group of patients. The objectives of this study were: To compare adolescent prognosis to that of younger children; to compare the results achieved with the two consecutive protocols in both age groups; to analyze clinical characteristics of children and adolescents. Between 1996 and 2017, 1759 patients aged <18 years were evaluable for the study.

Enteral nutrition protects children undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from blood stream infections.

Enteral Nutrition (EN) is recommended as first line nutritional support for patients undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (allo-HSCT), but only few studies exist in the literature which compare EN to Parenteral Nutrition (PN) in the paediatric population.Forty-two consecutive paediatric patients undergoing allo-HSCT at our referral centre between January 2016 and July 2019 were evaluated. Post-transplant and nutritional outcomes of patients receiving EN for more than 7 days (EN group, n = 14) were compared with those of patients receiving EN for fewer than 7 days or receiving only PN (PN group, n = 28).

Carnitine longitudinal pattern in preterm infants <1800 g body weight: a case-control study.

Background: The aim of this study is to investigate free carnitine (C0) and total acylcarnitine levels (AC) in preterm infants with BW < 1800 g and the relationship with neonatal and perinatal factors.

Methods: Ninety-three thousand two hundred and ninety-three newborns were screened between 2011 and 2013. Dried blood samples (DBS) were collected at 48-72 h, 14, and 30 days of age.

Late mortality and causes of death among 5-year survivors of childhood cancer diagnosed in the period 1960-1999 and registered in the Italian Off-Therapy Registry.

Introduction: Advances in paediatric oncology led to the increase in long-term survival, revealing the burden of therapy-related long-term side effects. We evaluated overall and cause-specific mortality in a large cohort of Italian childhood cancer survivors (CCSs) and adolescent cancer survivors identified through the off-therapy registry.

Materials And Methods: CCSs alive 5 years after cancer diagnosis occurring between 1960 and 1999 were eligible; the last follow-up was between 2011 and 2014.

Tissue Doppler Imaging for anthracycline cardiotoxicity monitoring in pediatric patients with cancer.

Background: Cardiotoxic effects of anthracycline therapy are a major cause of morbidity for childhood cancer survivors. The aim of this retrospective evaluation is to assess the efficacy of Tissue Doppler Imaging in the early detection of myocardial alterations in these patients.

Methods: A population of 50 childhood cancer survivors (32 males and 18 females) who have been treated with anthracyclines was evaluated by standard and TDI echocardiographic examination of the basal and median region of the interventricular septum (IVSb, IVSm), of the left ventricular posterior wall (LVPWb, LVPWm), and of the mitral annulus; the results were compared with those obtained from a population of 50 healthy age-matched and sex-matched controls by using the Student test.

Long-term results of the AIEOP MH'96 childhood Hodgkin's lymphoma trial and focus on significance of response to chemotherapy and its implication in low risk patients to avoid radiotherapy.

Identify a subset of early-stage HL children (GR1) curable with limited chemotherapy+/-radiotherapy; improve outcome of intermediate (GR2) and high-risk (GR3) patients; establish impact of response to chemotherapy evaluated with conventional imaging (CI). One hundred and sixty GR1-patients received 3ABVD + involved-field (IF) low-dose (LD) (20 Gy) irradiation if mediastinal mass or partial response (PR) after chemotherapy. Eighty-five GR2- and 315 GR3-patients received 4 and 6 COPP/ABV + IFRT, respectively.

Outcome of children with acute leukemia given HLA-haploidentical HSCT after αβ T-cell and B-cell depletion.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from an HLA-haploidentical relative (haplo-HSCT) is a suitable option for children with acute leukemia (AL) either relapsed or at high-risk of treatment failure. We developed a novel method of graft manipulation based on negative depletion of αβ T and B cells and conducted a prospective trial evaluating the outcome of children with AL transplanted with this approach. Eighty AL children, transplanted between September 2011 and September 2014, were enrolled in the trial.

Road Traffic Pollution and Childhood Leukemia: A Nationwide Case-control Study in Italy.

Background: The association of childhood leukemia with traffic pollution was considered in a number of studies from 1989 onwards, with results not entirely consistent and little information regarding subtypes.

Aim Of The Study: We used the data of the Italian SETIL case-control on childhood leukemia to explore the risk by leukemia subtypes associated to exposure to vehicular traffic.

Methods: We included in the analyses 648 cases of childhood leukemia (565 Acute lymphoblastic-ALL and 80 Acute non lymphoblastic-AnLL) and 980 controls.

Prognostic significance of flow-cytometry evaluation of minimal residual disease in children with acute myeloid leukaemia treated according to the AIEOP-AML 2002/01 study protocol.

In children with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), assessment of initial treatment response is an essential prognostic factor; methods more sensitive than morphology are still under evaluation. We report on the measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD), by multicolour flow-cytometry in one centralized laboratory, in 142 children with newly diagnosed AML enrolled in the Associazione Italiana di EmatoOncologia Pediatrica-AML 2002/01 trial. At the end of the first induction course, MRD was <0·1% in 69, 0·1-1% in 16 and >1% in 51 patients.

[The contribution of the Italian Association of paediatric haematology and oncology (AIEOP)].

Since 1972, children affected by cancer took advantage from multi-centric diagnostic and therapeutic protocols produced by the Italian Association of paediatric haematology and oncology (AIEOP). At the beginning, these protocols were used in few well-trained centres, later in almost all Italian haemato-oncological centres. The need of a careful monitoring of his own activity induced AIEOP to achieve, in 1989, an Italian hospital- based registry (database Mod.

Time trends of cancer incidence in childhood in Campania region: 25 years of observation.

Background: Childhood cancer is relatively uncommon and the European age-standardized rate was 164 new case per million per year among children 0 to 14 years of age (95 % CI 158-170). Aims of our study are to evaluate the cases of these malignant diseases observed between 0 and 15 years of age in the Campania region between 1990 and 2014, the ration between observed and expected cases by disease and province of residence. Also we studied the percentage of extra-regional migration over the time by disease and province of residence.

Adolescents with Cancer in Italy: Improving Access to National Cooperative Pediatric Oncology Group (AIEOP) Centers.

This analysis compared the numbers of patients treated at Italian pediatric oncology group (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica [AIEOP]) centers with the numbers of cases predicted according to the population-based registry. It considered 32,431 patients registered in the AIEOP database (1989-2012). The ratio of observed (O) to expected (E) cases was 0.

Impact of inflammatory cytokine gene polymorphisms on developing acute graft-versus-host disease in children undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in gene encoding pro- and anti-inflammatory factors have been associated with the occurrence of aGvHD. We retrospectively tested a wide panel of 38 polymorphisms in 19 immunoregulatory genes, aiming to first establish, in a pediatric HSCT setting, which SNPs were significantly associated with the development of aGvHD. A significant association was found between aGvHD grades II-IV and SNPs of donor IL10-1082GG, and Fas-670CC + CT and recipient IL18-607 TT + TG genotype.

Childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and indicators of early immune stimulation: a Childhood Leukemia International Consortium study.

The associations between childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and several proxies of early stimulation of the immune system, that is, day-care center attendance, birth order, maternally reported common infections in infancy, and breastfeeding, were investigated by using data from 11 case-control studies participating in the Childhood Leukemia International Consortium (enrollment period: 1980-2010). The sample included 7,399 ALL cases and 11,181 controls aged 2-14 years. The data were collected by questionnaires administered to the parents.