Economic and psychosocial problems experienced by pediatric with cancer patients and their families during the treatment and follow-up process.

Aim: To identify the psychosocial and economic problems of the pediatric patients with cancer who were treated at the Dr. Sami Ulus Obstetrics and Gynecology and Child Health and Diseases Training and Research Hospital's Pediatric Oncology Department and their relatives during this process.

Material And Methods: We interviewed a total of 100 patients who were treated at Dr.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with germ cell tumors: A single center experience in a developing country.

İncesoy-Özdemir S, Ertem U, Şahin G, Bozkurt C, Yüksek N, Ören AC, Balkaya E, Alkan A. Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of children with germ cell tumors: A single center experience in a developing country. Turk J Pediatr 2017; 59: 410-417.

A rare type of cancer in children: extranodal marginal zone B-cell (MALT) lymphoma of the ocular adnexa.

Primary ocular adnexal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas (OAMLs) are mostly seen in the 5th-7th decades of life, with female predominance, and they occur rarely in children. Thus, knowledge about this cancer type is obtained from adult data in the literature, while the data regarding OAMLs in the pediatric population are limited to a few case reports. Herein, we report a 10-year-old boy with OAML who was treated successfully with radiotherapy, and we discuss this uncommon lymphoma in children.

The relationship between cerebrospinal fluid osteopontin level and central nervous system involvement in childhood acute leukemia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) osteopontin (OPN) levels and central nervous system (CNS) involvement in children with a diagnosis of acute leukemia. The study sample consisted of 62 patients who had been diagnosed with acute leukemia. The control group consisted of 16 patients that had presented and had no malignant disease, CNS infection or chronic disease.

Oropharyngeal tularemia mimicking tumoral relapse in a patient with Hodgkin lymphoma in remission.

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease caused by Francisella tularensis. The clinical forms mostly depend on the port of entry into humans. Ingestion typically results in the oropharyngeal form and is associated with symptoms such as fever, pharyngitis, cervical lymphadenitis, and suppuration.

Secondary childhood acute myeloid leukemia with complex karyotypic anomalies including monosomy 7, monosomy 5 and translocation (1;10) after 131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine therapy for relapsed neuroblastoma.

The prognosis for relapsing or refractory neuroblastoma (NB) remains dismal, with a five-year disease-free survival of < 20%, and no effective salvage treatment has been identified so far. 131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) has come to play an essential role in the imaging and therapy of NB over the past 30 years. The role of 131I-MIBG in the treatment of NB is continually expanding.

Does serum soluble vascular endothelial growth factor levels have different importance in pediatric acute leukemia and malignant lymphoma patients?

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) seems to play a central role in angiogenesis-lymphangiogenesis in hematological malignancies. There are limited data related to childhood hematologic malignancies. The aim of the study was to evaluate soluble VEGF (sVEGF) levels in children with acute leukemia and malignant lymphoma (ML) at diagnosis and in remission.

Classic Kaposi sarcoma in 3 unrelated Turkish children born to consanguineous kindreds.

Infection by human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) in childhood is common in the Mediterranean basin; however, classic Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is exceedingly rare in children not infected with HIV and not receiving immunosuppression, with only 30 cases having been reported since 1960. We recently reported 2 children with autosomal and X-linked recessive primary immunodeficiencies underlying KS in a context of multiple clinical manifestations. These reports suggested that classic KS in otherwise healthy children might also result from inborn errors of immunity more specific to HHV-8.

Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP-1) in tissues with a diagnosis of childhood lymphoma.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are enzymes involved in the reconfiguration of the microenvironment by means of degrading the extracellular matrix and have more than 20 subgroups containing zinc. Proteins that serve as the inhibitors of these enzymes are called tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP). These enzymes have been shown to be active in a wide range of processes, from wound recovery to fetus development, heart diseases, and spread of malignant diseases.

Serum Ca 125 levels in children with acute leukemia and lymphoma.

Ca 125 is a tumor marker for the diagnosis and monitoring of ovarian carcinoma. We investigated serum Ca 125 levels in 44 children with leukemia and 59 children with lymphoma at initial presentation and 4 weeks after chemotherapy. Serum Ca 125 levels were measured chemilumimetrically with a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Characterization of MTHFR, GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTP1, and CYP1A1 genotypes in childhood acute leukemia.

The role of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR C677T), glutathione S-transferases (GSTM1 and GSTT1 null, GSTP1 Ile105Val), and cytochromes p450 (CYP1A1*2A) genotypes in the etiology of childhood leukemia was simultaneously investigated. 144 Turkish children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 33 with acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia (ANLL) were studied and compared with 185 healthy pediatric controls. The frequency of MTHFR genotype was insignificantly higher in ALL (7.