A conditioning regimen of busulfan, fludarabine, and melphalan for allogeneic stem cell transplantation in children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.

A pilot study was undertaken using a myeloablative conditioning with fludarabine, busulfan, and melphalan to improve the outcome of HSCT in 10 children, aged six months to six yr, with JMML. All patients were conditioned with oral busulfan (560 mg/m(2)), fludarabine (120 mg/m(2)), and melphalan (180-210 mg/m(2)) prior to HSCT, and received stem cells from bone marrow in seven cases, and from cord blood in three cases. Engraftment was documented in eight patients, whereas graft failure occurred in two, one of whom had received HLA-mismatched cord blood and other had received bone marrow from HLA-mismatched mother.

Results for 79 patients with neuroblastoma detected through mass screening at 6 months of age in a single institute.

Background: In Japan, mass screening for neuroblastoma has been performed at 6 months of age to improve the prognosis of this condition for more than 20 years. In recent years, most neuroblastomas detected by mass screening were considered to have favorable biological features and sometimes tend to regress spontaneously.

Methods: The authors established non-treated observation criteria in 1997 and criteria for observation of residual tumor after first-line chemotherapy in 1999, and have made an effort to reduce the intensity of medical treatment for neuroblastoma.

Desmoplastic small cell tumor of soft tissue: molecular variant of EWS-WT1 chimeric fusion.

A 7-year-old girl was hospitalized because of a tumorous mass in her left periorbital region. The tumor was removed by local excision. The soft-part tumor recurred in the parotid gland region 4 months later, and a second recurrence was noted on the left side of the neck 3 years and 3 months thereafter.

Spontaneous regression of metastases including meningeal metastasis after gross resection of primary tumor in an infant with stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor in childhood. Spontaneous regression has been well described in infants, especially in those with stage 4S and those with low-stage neuroblastoma detected by screening. However, neuroblastoma presenting with intracranial metastasis is generally considered to need a postoperative chemotherapy.