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. Sami Ulus Obstetrics and Gynecology and Child Health and Diseases Hospital's Pediatric Oncology Department between 1996 and 2015, and were now followed up without treatment and their relatives using survey questions on the psychosocial and economic problems they experienced. RESULTS: Most of patients were from provinces outside Ankara. The average monthly income was below the level that would meet the family needs in 80% of the families and only 16% had extra income. Additional economic support had been received by 93% of the families in the patient group. Twenty-five families (25%) had been forced to sell property during the treatment. Forty-nine (49%) families had borrowed money from acquaintances and relatives or had taken out a bank loan. Serious psychological problems were experienced during and after the treatment by 46% of the mothers; 41% of the families had used religious procedures more commonly during the treatment period to cope with the psychological problems. Education was subject to a 1-2 year pause in 83% of the patients. CONCLUSION: Childhood-age patients with cancer and their families experience significant psychosocial and economic problems during and after the treatment process. Providing medical treatment and psychosocial support in harmony is an important factor that increases the success of cancer treatment. The patient and the family will require psychosocial support mechanisms throughout life, starting from the moment they face the disease. Developing national social support programs and legal regulations to form a basis for such programs are required in our country.

AMAÇ: Dr. Sami Ulus Kadin Dogum ve Çocuk Sagligi ve Hastaliklari Egitim ve Arastirma Hastanesi Çocuk Onkoloji Klinigi'nde tedavi edilmis kanserli çocuk hastalarin ve yakinlarinin bu süreçte karsilastiklari psikososyal ve ekonomik sorunlari belirlemek. GEREÇ VE YÖNTEMLER: Dr. Sami Ulus Çocuk Sagligi ve Hastaliklari Hastanesi Çocuk Onkoloji Klinigi'nde 1996­2015 yillari arasinda tedavi görmüs ve su anda hastaliksiz olarak izlemde olan toplam 100 hasta ve yakini ile görüsülerek yasadiklari psikososyal ve ekonomik sorunlara iliskin anket sorulari yönlendirildi. BULGULAR: Hastalarimizin çogu Ankara disi illerden gelmekte idi. Hasta ailelerinin %80'inin ortalama aylik gelirinin ailenin gereksinimlerini karsilama düzeyinin altinda oldugu ve sadece %16'sinin ek geliri oldugu saptandi. Hasta grubunda ailelerimizin %93'ü ek ekonomik destek almislardi. Yirmi bes aile (%25) tedavi süresince sahip olduklari bazi mal varliklarini satmak zorunda kalmisti. Kirk dokuz (%49) aile tanidik ve akrabalarindan borç almisti ya da bankadan kredi çekmisti. Annelerin %43'ünün tedavi sirasinda ve sonrasi ciddi psikolojik sorunlar yasadigi, psikolojik sorunlarla basa çikabilmek için ailelerin %40'inda tedavi döneminde dini ibadetlere egilimde artis oldugu gözlendi. Hastalarimizin %83'ünün egitimlerinde 1­2 yil gibi bir kayip yasandigi görüldü. ÇIKARIMLAR: Çocukluk çagi kanser hastalari ve aileleri tedavi sürecinde ve sonrasinda önemli oranda psikosoyal ve ekonomik sorunlar yasamaktadir. Kanserde, tibbi tedavi ile psikososyal destegin bir uyum içerisinde yürütülmesi tedavi basarisini artiran önemli bir etmendir. Hastanin ve ailesinin hastalikla tanistigi ilk andan baslayarak tüm hayat boyunca psikososyal destek mekanizmalarina gereksinim vardir. Ülkemizde ulusal olarak bu yönde gelistirilecek sosyal destek programlari ve bu programin yürütülecegi zemini olusturacak yasal düzenlemelere gereksinim vardir.

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

Incesoy-Özdemir S, Ertem U, Sahin 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. Germ cell tumor (GCT) is a rare malignancy accounting for 2-3% of all pediatric tumors. The overall survival rate of children and adolescents with GCT is more than 80% after adopting combined therapy. The aim of this study is to review clinical presentation, management, and outcome in a single-center series with extracranial GCT. Clinical characteristics, pathologic presentations, and survival outcomes of 101 children with GCT, treated at our hospital from 1988 to 2011, were analyzed. Sixty-two of patients were female and 39 of them were male. Fifty-eight (57%) patients had gonadal tumor (24 testicular, 34 ovarian), 43 (43%) extragonadal. Histologically, teratomas were found most frequently (26 mature, 10 immature), followed by yolk sac tumors (n: 33), mixed malignant tumors (n: 13), embryonal carcinoma (n: 10), disgerminoma (n: 8) and seminoma (n: 1). Twenty-six patients were diagnosed as mature teratoma and we excluded them in the evaluation of staging and survival. Five-year overall and relaps-free survival were 80.3% (mean follow-up time: 215.8 months) and 73.4% (mean follow-up time: 176.2 months), respectively. Five-year survival rates were 93.2% and 90.2% in malign GCTs diagnosed after 1999.

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. CSF OPN levels were studied with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The mean CSF OPN level was 32.76±49.22 ng/ml in the patients at the time of diagnosis and 14.93±6.84 ng/ml in the control group (p>0.05). The mean CSF OPN level was 27.68±32.73 ng/ml at the time of diagnosis in the group without CNS involvement and 53.48±89.21 ng/ml in the group with CNS involvement (p>0.05). However, the CSF OPN level at the time of CNS relapse in patients who developed CNS involvement during follow-up (127.4±52 ng/ml) was significantly higher than in the group without CNS involvement at diagnosis and follow-up (mean CSF OPN level: 27.68±32.73 ng/ml) (p<0.001). The analysis of CSF OPN levels at the time of diagnosis-before relapse and at the periods of relapse and remission in patients who had CNS involvement at diagnosis and/or follow-up revealed statistically significant differences between the time points (p<0.001). High CSF OPN levels in childhood acute leukemia patients may be used as evidence for CNS involvement, and any increases found in CSF OPN levels may be a preliminary predictor for CNS involvement.

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. In this report, we describe a child treated for Hodgkin's disease presenting six years later with a left cervical lymphadenopathy mimicking a relapse.

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. 131I-MIBG treatment together with cumulative doses of other alkylating agents has potential serious late side effects such as myelodysplasia and leukemia, although rare. We describe a secondary acute myeloid leukemia case with complex karyotypic anomalies that included monosomy 5, monosomy 7 and translocation (1;10) in a child with relapsed NB who received therapeutic 131I-MIBG.

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. The levels of serum sVEGF were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in 20 children with acute leukemia, 33 children with different histopathological subtypes of ML, and 20 healthy controls. The levels of sVEGF at diagnosis (range 2 -1040 pg/mL; median 52 pg/mL) was significantly lower than in remission (range 136 -1960 pg/mL; median 630 pg/mL) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) group (P = .018). The sVEGF levels at diagnosis (range: 2 -640 pg/mL; median 89 pg/mL) was significantly lower compared to remission values (range: 116 -1960 pg/mL; median 136 pg/mL) in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) (P = .002). In ML group, including Burkitt's lymphoma (BL), T-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), sVEGF levels at diagnosis were higher than remission levels, but there was no statistically significant difference (P >.05). On the other hand, there were significant difference between levels in active disease and control group, ie, BL versus control, T-cell NHL versus control, and HL versus control (P = .008, P = .043, P = .007, respectively). The authors noticed that sVEGF levels showed distinct behavioral pattern in different childhood malignancies at diagnosis and in remission. In acute leukemia and ML patients, VEGF acts through different pathophysiological mechanisms, in both bone marrow (BM) angiogenesis and lymphoid tissue lymphangiogenesis.

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. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a relationship between the type, stage, and prognosis of childhood lymphoma subjects and matrix metalloproteinase type-9 (MMP-9) and its inhibitor, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase type-1 (TIMP-1). Paraffin blocks of childhood patients diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 23), Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 14), or reactive lymphadenopathy (n = 12) were retrospectively immunohistochemically stained with MMP-9 and TIMP-1 stains and whether there was a relationship between the degree of staining and the type, tumor stage, and prognosis of the disease was investigated. Moderate and high degrees of MMP-9 staining were detected in 94.6% of the lymphoma patient tissues and a slight TIMP-1 staining was detected in 21.6% of the lymphoma patient tissues. No relationship was observed between the degree of these staining patterns and the type, tumor stage, and prognosis of the disease. This study indicates that the equilibrium between MMP-9 and TIMP-1 is important in lymphomas in addition to all the physiological and pathologic events although MMP-9 and the TIMP-1 staining patterns are not related to the tumor stage, prognosis, and type of the disease. Larger series of patients are needed to determine the prognostic value of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in childhood lymphoma.

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. The incidence of elevated serum Ca 125 levels was significantly higher in children with leukemia (14 children) and lymphoma (26 children) than in the healthy children (2 children). In the patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) who had abdominal involvement and/or serous membrane involvement (ascides, pleural, pericardial effusion) at presentation, serum Ca 125 levels were significantly higher than in the patients without abdominal and/or serosal involvement. Serum Ca 125 levels were impressively increased in the patients with Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) in whom abdominal and/or serous membrane involvement were observed more frequently than the other types of lymphoma. The increased serum Ca 125 levels in the patients returned to normal 4 weeks after chemotherapy when they achieved complete remission. In conclusion, serum Ca 125 seems to be a good indicator for serous membrane involvement and it seems to be a promising tumor marker in the assessment of therapeutic response in children with leukemia and NHL.

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 (7.7%) and ANLL (6.3%) than in controls (4.4%). Equal distribution of the GSTM1 null genotype was detected between ALL patients and controls (55%), while its incidence was slightly higher in ANLL patients (61.3%). Although GSTT1 null genotype was insignificantly lower in ALL patients (20.9%) than controls (22.7%), it was significantly underrepresented in ANLL patients (6.5%) (P = 0.05, OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.05-1.03). The homozygous frequency of GSTP1 genotype did not differ significantly between groups of ALL (3.7%), ANLL patients (9.1%) and controls (4.9%). Homozygous CYP1A1*2A genotype was underrepresented in ALL patients (1%) as compared to control (4.8%) but the differences did not reach to statistical significance (OR 0.21; 95% CI 0.03-1.72). Homozygosity for this genotype was not detected in ANLL patients. No particular association was noted between different combinations of combined genotypes and risk of development of childhood ALL and ANLL. These results suggested that there are no significant associations between the studied genotypes and the risk of developing either form of acute leukemia except GSTT1 null and homozygosity for CYP1A1 genotypes that may play protective roles in the development of ANLL in Turkish children.