• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권13호
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• pp.5459-5462
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• 2015

This case series study was performed for all 83 children below 14 years old suffering from cancer during 2010-2013 who were registered in Ardabil pediatric cancer registry (APCR). The required data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS.19 statistical methods software. Some 51 (61.4%) of cases were male. The mean age of patients was 5.8 years. Of the total, 60 (72.3%) of cases were from urban areas. Results showed that leukemia with 54.2%, CNS with 12% and neuroblastoma with 8.4% were the most prevalent childhood malignancies in Ardabil province. Based on the under 14 year old population estimated from Ardabil province, the cumulative incidence rate was 95.4 patients per one million. The incidence rate was relatively high so that childhood cancers should be considered as an important issue in health policy making in Ardabil province of Iran.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권8호
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• pp.3541-3546
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• 2014

TEL-AML1 fusion oncogene (t 12; 21) is the most common chromosomal abnormality in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This translocation is associated with a good prognosis and rarely shows chemotherapeutic resistance to 3-drug based remission induction phase of treatment as well as overall treatment. Thus, the higher the frequency of this fusion oncogene, the easier to manage childhood ALL in a given region with less intensive chemotherapy. Although global frequency of TEL-AML1 has been reported to be 20-30%, a very low frequency has been found in some geographical regions, including one study from Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan and others from India. The objective of present study was to investigate if this low frequency of TEL-AML1 in pediatric ALL is only in Lahore region or similar situation exists at other representative oncology centers of Pakistan. A total of 167 pediatric ALL patients were recruited from major pediatric oncology centers situated in Lahore, Faisalabad, Peshawar and Islamabad. Patients were tested for TEL-AML1 using nested reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Only 17 out of 167 (10.2%) patients were found to be TEL-AML1 positive. TEL-AML1+ALL patients had favorable prognosis, most of them (82.4%, 14/17) showing early remission and good overall survival. Thus, our findings indicate an overall low frequency of TEL-AML1 in Pakistan pediatric ALL patients, in accordance with lower representation of this prognostically important genetic abnormality in other less developed countries, specifically in south Asia, thus associating it with poor living standards in these ethnic groups. It also indicates ethnic and geographical differences in the distribution of this prognostically important genetic abnormality among childhood ALL patients, which may have a significant bearing on ALL management strategies in different parts of the world.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권18호
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• pp.7817-7819
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• 2014

Childhood cancers are relatively uncommon in comparison to adult cancers. There is no literature available to shed light on clinic-pathological types and patterns of care for childhood cancers in our population in North-East India. In this analysis we therefore tried to determine the common childhood cancers diagnosed in our institute, clinical profile of the patients, types of treatment and compliance, and median survival estimates. Leukemia was most common, followed by retinoblastoma, central nervous system tumours and lymphomas. Ascertaining the clinic-pathological profile of childhood cancers in our population is essential for allocation and management of resources for this small but important group of patients.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.877-877
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• 2016

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.239-244
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• 2015

Background: One of the causes of acute leukemia can be exposure to certain chemicals such as pesticides. This study determined the relationship between exposure to pesticides and the occurrence of acute leukemia in Fars province, south of Iran. Materials and Methods: Between April 2011 and April 2013 in a case-control study conducted in Nemazee Hospital in Shiraz, Southern Iran; 314 subjects diagnosed with acute leukemia (94 pediatric cases and 220 adults) were enrolled to determine any correlation between exposure to pesticides and the occurrence. Controls (n=314) were matched by sex and age. Results: There was a history of exposure to pesticides among 85% of pediatric cases and 69% of their controls and 83% of adult cases and 75% of their controls while 87.5% of pediatric cases and 90% of adult cases reported exposure to intermediate and high doses of pesticides and among the controls, the exposure to low doses of pesticides was 70.5% and 65%, respectively. Exposure to indoor pesticides was seen among most of cases and controls. Being a farmer was at a significantly more increased risk of developing acute leukemia in comparison to other jobs, especially for their children. Conclusions: Exposure to pesticides was shown to be one of the most important causes of acute leukemia. It seems that there is a need to educate the people on public health importance of exposure to pesticides especially during school time to reduce the risk of malignancies during childhood.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권8호
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• pp.3825-3827
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• 2012

FISH is one of the most sensitive molecular methods to detect genetic abnormalities with DNA probes. When cytogenetic studies are normal or insufficient, FISH may detect cryptic rearrangements, rare or slowly proliferative abnormal populations in non-mitotic cells. We cytogenetically evaluated 70 childhood ALL - 67.1% were found to have an abnormal karyotype. The 23 patients (32.9%) with a normal karyotype were analyzed by FISH applying two probes; TEL/AML1 and MYB which detect cryptic rearrangements of t(12;21)(p13;q22) and deletion of (6q) respectively, associated with a good prognosis. Out of 23 patients, one was positive for t(12;21)(p13;q22) (4.3%). None of our patients were positive for MYB del(6q). Two patients showed an extra signal for MYB on chromosomes other than 6 (8.6 %) indicating amplification or duplication. Findings were compared with the available literature. Our study clearly indicated the integrated FISH screening method to increase the abnormality detection rate in a narrow range. FISH is less useful for diagnostic study of patients with suspected del(6q) but it helps in detecting known cryptic rearrangements as well as identification of new abnormalities(translocation , duplication and amplification) at the gene level.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제46권12호
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• pp.1260-1265
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• 2003

Purpose : In 1970, the Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster(BFM) group introduced an intensification therapy after remission induction to reduce relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) in childhood. Delayed intensification(DI) phase has been included for treatment of ALL in our hospital since the mid-1990s. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the outcome with vs. without DI phase and the outcome with two vs. one DI phase for intermediate risk patients. Methods : One hundred and thirty nine children with ALL who were treated at the Department of Pediatrics of Wonju Christian Hospital and Yonsei University Medical Center between March, 1990 and July, 2002 were analysed retrospectively. Results : Thirty-eight patients were treated with a DI phase, and 101 patients were treated without a DI phase. Among the DI patients, seven patients were treated with a double DI phase. Five-year overall survival(OS) in the low, intermediate, and high risk groups were 68%, 66% and 58%, respectively. 5-year OS in DDI, DI, and control were 95%, 86% and 40%, respectively. In the low risk group, 5-year event free survival(EFS) in DI, and control were 94% and 58%, respectively. Conclusion : Delayed intensification improved EFS on childhood ALL in all risk groups.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
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• 제11권2호
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• pp.159-169
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• 2003

Objectives: The object of this study was to compare between perceived stress, coping strategies and quality of life between parents of childhood cancer and normal controls. Methods: Global assessment of recent stress(GARS) scale and symptom checklist-90-revised (SCL-90-R) were used to measure perception for stressors and stress responses(psychopathology). Coping scale and Smithklein Beecham quality of life scale were used to measure coping strategies and quality of life. Results: Scores of perceived stress related to interpersonal, changes in relationship, sickness or illness, financial, unusual happenings on the GARS scale were significantly higher in parents of childhood cancer than normal controls. Scores of the SCL-90-R, somatization, depression, anxiety, hostility subscale were also significantly higher in parents of childhood cancer than normal controls. Scores of self control and positive reappraisal were significantly higher in parents of childhood cancer than normal controls. Parents of childhood cancer scored significantly lower in quality of life than normal controls. Scores of depression were also significantly higher in parents of children diagnosed as acute lymphocytic leukemia(ALL) than those as acute nonlymphocytic leukemia(ANLL). Conclusions: The results suggest that patients with parents of childhood cancer were likely to have higher levels of perceived stressor and psychopathology and lower quality of life than normal controls.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• 제25권3호
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• pp.39-55
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• 2021

Objective : To investigate specific prescriptions, herbal medicines and treatment strategy, this study systematically reviewed case studies on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for childhood cancer. Method : Literature searches were performed on database of China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Studies published before December 2020 were categorized and analyzed according to the treatment strategy and we also investigated Chinese herbs used in the prescriptions. Results : Twenty-five studies including 17 case series and 8 single case reports were included in our review. Of the total 439 patients, 379 (85.7%) had leukemia and other myeloplastic disease. Conventional western medicine (CWM) treatment was also used with TCM based on the syndrome identification. Most studies reported favorable effect of combination treatment with CWM and TCM. Among 266 herbs in the studies, reinforcing herbs were more frequently used than anti-cancer herbs. Conclusion : Traditional herbal treatment for childhood cancer should be performed considering the syndrome identification as well as stage of CWM. Reinforcing herbs should be more focused because of the fragility and growth of the childhood.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권7호
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• pp.3461-3464
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• 2012

Methotrexate (MTX) is an important drug for the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, related toxicity occurs in many organs which may cause interruption of treatment, morbidity, and mortality. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and gamma glutamyl hydrolase (GGH) are known to alter their enzymatic activity and thus affect the metabolism of MTX and influence the effectiveness. Therefore, we hypothesized that genetic variations of DHFR and GGH genes may influence the risk of toxicity after high dose MTX. The study population comprised of 105 children with ALL who were treated according to the modified St Jude Total XV protocol. The patients received 2.5 or $5g/m^2$ of MTX for 5 doses during the consolidation phase. Genotyping of DHFR 829C>T and GGH-401C>T was performed using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The GGH-401CT and TT genotypes were associated with increased risk of leukopenia and thrombocytopenia after high dose MTX (OR 2.97, 95%CI; 1.24-7.13 and OR 4.02, 95%CI; 1.58-10.26). DHFR 829C>T was not associated with toxicity. In conclusion, the GGH-401CT and TT genotypes were found to increase the risk of severe leukopenia and thrombocytopenia after exposure to high dose MTX for childhood ALL therapy.