Paediatric ventriculoperitoneal shunt failures: 12-year experience from a Singapore children's hospital.

Purpose: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) shunt failures in children are devastating. The primary aims of this study are to, firstly, review our institutional series of ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) insertions and identify factors associated with shunt failure.

Methods: This is a single-institution, retrospective study conducted over a 12-year period.

Generation and multi-dimensional profiling of a childhood cancer cell line atlas defines new therapeutic opportunities.

Pediatric solid and central nervous system tumors are the leading cause of cancer-related death among children. Identifying new targeted therapies necessitates the use of pediatric cancer models that faithfully recapitulate the patient's disease. However, the generation and characterization of pediatric cancer models has significantly lagged behind adult cancers, underscoring the urgent need to develop pediatric-focused cell line resources.

Outcomes of intracranial non-germinomatous germ cell tumors: a retrospective Asian multinational study on treatment strategies and prognostic factors.

Purpose: Non-germinomatous germ cell tumors (NGGCTs) are rare pediatric conditions. This multicenter study using Asian multinational patient data investigated treatment outcomes and prognostic factors for NGGCTs.

Methods: Medical records of 251 patients with NGGCTs treated from 1995 to 2015 were retrospectively analyzed from participating centers in Asian countries (Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Japan).

Paediatric Cerebral Arteriovenous Malformation: Outcomes from a Singapore Children's Hospital.

Objectives: Paediatric brain arteriovenous malformation (bAVM) is a rare and distinct clinical entity. There is a growing body of literature that support the success of multimodality approaches for this difficult condition. The authors aim to firstly, describe our institutional experience with a consecutive series of patients and next, corroborate our results with current literature.

Outcomes of intracranial germinoma-A retrospective multinational Asian study on effect of clinical presentation and differential treatment strategies.

Background: This multinational study was conducted to report clinical presentations and treatment strategies in patients with intracranial germinomas across selected Asian centers, including failure patterns, risk factors, and outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective data collection and analysis of these patients, treated between 1995 and 2015 from eight healthcare institutions across four countries was undertaken.

Results: From the results, 418 patients were analyzed, with a median follow-up of 8.

Sarcoma classification by DNA methylation profiling.

Sarcomas are malignant soft tissue and bone tumours affecting adults, adolescents and children. They represent a morphologically heterogeneous class of tumours and some entities lack defining histopathological features. Therefore, the diagnosis of sarcomas is burdened with a high inter-observer variability and misclassification rate.

Molecular exploration of paediatric intracranial germinomas from multi-ethnic Singapore.

Background: Germinomas (IG) account for up to 50% of all intracranial germ cell tumours. These tumours are reputed to be more prevalent in Oriental populations in comparison to Western cohorts. Biological characteristics of IG in other ethnic groups are unknown.

Clinical relevance of screening checklists for detecting cancer predisposition syndromes in Asian childhood tumours.

Assessment of cancer predisposition syndromes (CPS) in childhood tumours is challenging to paediatric oncologists due to inconsistent recognizable clinical phenotypes and family histories, especially in cohorts with unknown prevalence of germline mutations. Screening checklists were developed to facilitate CPS detection in paediatric patients; however, their clinical value have yet been validated. Our study aims to assess the utility of clinical screening checklists validated by genetic sequencing in an Asian cohort of childhood tumours.

MicroRNA as potential modulators in chemoresistant high-grade gliomas.

Gliomas account for 70% of human malignant primary brain tumours. The most common form is glioblastoma multiforme, World Health Organization grade IV. Despite the implementation of post-operative adjuvant radiotherapy with concurrent temozolomide (TMZ), the disease's overall prognosis remains dismal.