The evaluation of function and the ultrasonographic picture of thyroid in children treated for medulloblastoma.

Childs Nerv Syst

Department of Pediatric Oncology, Haematology and Chemotherapy, Medical University of Silesia, Upper Silesia Children's Care Health Centre, Katowice, Poland.

Published: March 2012

Purpose: Medulloblastoma (MB) is one of the most frequent and sensitive to radiation aggressive brain tumor in children. Abnormalities of the thyroid function are common complications of head and neck irradiation for childhood cancer. The aim of this study was to assess thyroid function in children treated for medulloblastoma according to the treatment protocol phase.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-three children with MB were enrolled to this study. All patients underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy to the whole craniospinal axis and boost with the conformal therapy restricted to the tumor bed to a total dose of 54 Gy. Thyroid function was evaluated based on thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) levels controlled before MB treatment, directly after irradiation and at the end of the treatment protocol. Ultrasonography has been used to detect parenchymal abnormalities.

Results: All patients presented normal thyroid hormone range before chemotherapy. Hypothyroidism was found in 12 patients in the course of treatment, in 2 patients hormone deficits diagnosed directly after irradiation, in 10 patients such condition was observed at the end of the whole therapy. All of these patients needed thyroid hormone substitution. None of them presented clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism. Ultrasound-detected abnormalities have been found in 20 patients.

Conclusions: It is crucial to monitor the functions of the thyroid gland in children treated for medulloblastoma because of the high risk of hypothyroidism resulting from the treatment. The change in the echogenicity of the thyroid gland may be an early marker for a dysfunction of this organ in children treated for medulloblastoma.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00381-011-1625-4DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

children treated
16
treated medulloblastoma
16
thyroid function
12
thyroid
8
treatment protocol
8
directly irradiation
8
thyroid hormone
8
thyroid gland
8
children
6
patients
6

Similar Publications

Background: To date, 11 DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE) pathogenic variants have been declared "hotspot" mutations. Patients with endometrial cancer (EC) characterized by POLE hotspot mutations (POLEmut) have exceptional survival outcomes. Whereas international guidelines encourage deescalation of adjuvant treatment in early-stage POLEmut EC, data regarding safety in POLEmut patients with unfavorable characteristics are still under investigation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Modeling the response to interleukin-21 to inform natural killer cell immunotherapy.

Immunol Cell Biol

January 2025

Steve and Cindy Rasmussen Institute for Genomic Medicine, Abigail Wexner Research Institute, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA.

Natural killer (NK) cells are emerging agents for cancer therapy. Several different cytokines are used to generate NK cells for adoptive immunotherapy including interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, IL-15 and IL-18 in solution, and membrane-bound IL-21. These cytokines drive NK cell activation through the integration of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathways, which overlap and synergize, making it challenging to predict optimal cytokine combinations for both proliferation and cytotoxicity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: A 12-month cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) demonstrated the effectiveness of an application-based education program in reducing the salt intake and systolic blood pressure (SBP) of schoolchildren's adult family members. This study aimed to assess whether the effect at 12 months persisted at 24 months.

Methods: Fifty-four schools were randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Prospective trial evidence is lacking regarding the application of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) in transvaginal pelvic floor reconstruction surgery among older patients. Our study aimed to investigate whether implementing the ERAS protocol could enhance post-operative recovery in this patient population.

Methods: Older patients undergoing elective transvaginal pelvic floor reconstruction surgery were randomly assigned to either the ERAS group or the conventional group.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the social distancing has significantly affected the healthy lifestyle behaviors of residents. China ended social distancing on January 8, 2023, and the healthy lifestyle behaviors of residents after this time are unclear. The goal of this study was to evaluate the differences in healthy lifestyle behaviors between Chinese urban and rural residency after the termination of social distancing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!