Pediatric blood & cancer
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Pediatric blood & cancer · Dec 2009
Case ReportsPulmonary tuberculosis presenting as fever without source in a pediatric patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Children who undergo treatment for malignancies are at high for infection with both typical and opportunistic pathogens. Fever in these children prompts extensive evaluation and empiric treatment with broad-spectrum antimicrobials. In the United States (US), tuberculosis is an infrequently reported cause of fever in the pediatric cancer patient and has not been well described. In this report we describe a case of primary pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in a boy with precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and review the pertinent literature.
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Pediatric blood & cancer · Dec 2009
Initial testing (stage 1) of the kinesin spindle protein inhibitor ispinesib by the pediatric preclinical testing program.
Ispinesib is a highly specific inhibitor of kinesin spindle protein (KSP, HsEg5), a mitotic kinesin required for separation of the spindle poles. Here we report the activity of ispinesib against the in vitro and in vivo panels of the Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP). ⋯ Ispinesib demonstrated broad in vivo antitumor activity, including maintained complete responses for several xenografts, although with high toxicity rates at the doses studied.
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Pediatric blood & cancer · Dec 2009
Life satisfaction of Swedish pediatric oncologists: The role of personality, work-related aspects, and emotional distress.
The first nationwide, population-based study of Swedish pediatric oncologists was conducted in 2006 and it revealed that various aspects of their life satisfaction obviously influenced their stress-resilience. This second part of the study, with a response rate of 89% in the target group, therefore, focused on their life satisfaction and the role of personality, work-related aspects, and emotional distress related to type of medical center and gender. ⋯ Pediatric oncologists face life-threatening conditions and psychosocial issues factors that may negatively influence their life satisfaction. This study group, a single population of physicians, is characterized by an optimistic attitude and stable emotional status pointing to a high level of satisfaction, which is probably a main basic condition when meeting seriously ill children.
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Pediatric blood & cancer · Dec 2009
Veno-occlusive disease as a complication of preoperative chemotherapy for Wilms tumor: A clinico-pathological analysis.
Vincristine (VCR) and actinomycin D (ACD) form the backbone of chemotherapeutic regimens of Wilms tumor treatment. Veno-occlusive disease (VOD) is a potentially life-threatening complication of ACD. ⋯ Despite short-course preoperative chemotherapy regimen, patients are at risk of developing histological VOD. This risk is higher when ACD is administered in a 1-day 45 microg/kg regimen as compared to 3 days l5 microg/kg.
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Pediatric blood & cancer · Dec 2009
The impact of CD34+ cell dose on platelet engraftment in pediatric patients following unmanipulated haploidentical blood and marrow transplantation.
Unmanipulated haploidentical blood and marrow transplantation has been developed as an alternative transplant strategy for pediatric patients with hematological diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of donor and recipient characteristics on hematopoietic recovery in pediatric patients following unmanipulated haploidentical transplantation. ⋯ Our results suggest that low number of CD34+ cells in allografts is a critical factor associated with delayed platelet engraftment after unmanipulated haploidentical transplantation in pediatric patients.