Integrating a palliative approach into the healthcare provided by the French-African Pediatric Oncology Group's pilot units. Insights from a 3-year training program.

Working alongside local stakeholders, members of the French-African Pediatric Oncology Group developed a 3-year program to train pediatric oncology teams from 15 French-speaking countries in Africa in using analgesics and providing palliative care. This program was rolled out in three phases: initial training, in situ assessment, and advanced training in selected topics. To access this program, multidisciplinary teams had to come up with a project to improve their existing palliative care and pain management practices, and commit themselves to implementing it. All the teams invited agreed to take part in the program, which explicitly broached a subject that is often avoided in oncology teaching. The first phase was rolled out in 2017, with 65 trainees from 19 units attending one of three sessions held in Dakar, Senegal, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and Rabat, Morocco. The subsequent assessment revealed that only half the teams had started to implement their projects. The advanced training phase was therefore adjusted accordingly. A collective training session held in Marseille was attended by 15 trainees from seven teams whose projects were already underway, while in situ mentoring was provided for six other teams, through French-African twinnings in four cases. The length and openness of the program meant that we were able to identify and share the units' diverse realities, and fine-tune their projects accordingly, as well as plan ways of continuing the training both locally and collectively.

Medulloblastoma in childhood: What effects on neurocognitive functions?

PUPOSE: Medulloblastoma is the most common primary malignant central nervous system tumor in childhood, accounting for 16-25% of cases (1). New treatment approaches have led to improved survival rates; however toxicities are still a major concern. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Participants were selected from the records of patients who were treated with craniospinal irradiation for medulloblastoma. Between January 2008 and December 2012, 62 patients were diagnosed with medulloblastoma at the national institute of oncology Rabat, 27 patients were still alive at the time of the study, of which n=16 patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients at the time of the study was 9.6 years. All children were treated with radiation therapy and chemotherapy, according to standard protocols. Median follow-up between treatment and evaluation was 4 years. All the children were assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - fourth Edition (WISC-IV) three to five years after completion of radiotherapy. The test was administered by two well-trained psychologists in a distraction-free environment. The scoring was then reviewed by a psychologist from Brooklyn College. RESULTS: The mean standard score Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient (FSIQ) (M=63, SD=12.6) was found to be in the extremely low range and in the 1st percentile rank (PR), compared to the general population. All the measured primary index scales were below typical performance: verbal comprehension (M=67.7, SD=13.1), perceptual reasoning (M=63.5, SD=13.8) and processing speed (M=62.7, SD=15.5) were all found to be in the extremely low range, while xorking memory (M=75.5, SD=10.8) was found to be in the borderline range compared to the general population. To identify factors influencing the results, we performed both univariate and multivariate analyses. Age at the time of radiotherapy, initial clinical stage, total cranial radiotherapy dose, socioeconomic status, and the time of evaluation were identified as significantly impacting cognitive scores in the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, only age at the time of radiotherapy and initial clinical stage remained factors significantly impacting cognitive outcomes with P=0.001 and P<0.001 respectively. CONCLUSION: Our study is evidence that tremendous efforts are still to be made in low-income countries to correctly measure neurocognitive dysfunction in medulloblastoma survivors and to prepare those patients to a typical life after the completion of treatment.

The rare translocation t(14;21)(q11;q22) detected in a Moroccan patient with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Cytogenetic studies of acute lymphoblastic leukemia have been at the forefront of research in the pathogenesis of cancer. The presence of recurring chromosomal abnormalities (either numeral or structural rearrangements) provides immediate clues to the genetic events leading to leukemia and many abnormalities have important prognostic significance. The rare translocation t(14,21)(q11.2;q22) has been described in pediatric T lineage ALL in only one case so far in 2000. The present study is a case report of an ALL case in which we found a t(14,21)(q11.2;q22) as a non random chromosomal abnormality among 70 analyzed pediatric ALL cases referred exclusively to BIOLAB Laboratory from the children hospital of Morocco.

[Thymic hyperplasia following treatment for nephroblastoma]. / Hypertrophie thymique après une chimiothérapie pour un néphroblastome.

UNLABELLED: Thymic hyperplasia in response to stress is a well known phenomenon. Thymic hyperplasia has also been described after chemotherapeutic treatment for malignancies in children. CASE REPORT: A three-year-old girl was followed up from the age of 18 months for a left kidney nephroblastoma treated by combination of chemotherapy (vincristin, actinomycin and adriamycin) and surgery. Assessment at the end of treatment was normal. Four months after the end of treatment, pulmonary radiography showed mediastinal enlargement, which was shown to originate in the thymus at thoracic CT scan. A recurrence of the disease was suspected. Biopsy showed thymic hyperplasia without evidence of tumor cells. Mediastinal enlargement then disappeared spontaneously 2 months later. CONCLUSION: Thymic hyperplasia occurring during remission of a cancer treated by chemotherapy is a diagnostic dilemma as it suggests mediastinal reccurence of the disease. Needle aspiration cytology is an appropriate investigation in thymic hyperplasia. No steroid therapy should be used before histologic diagnosis of thymic hyperplasia.

[Clear cell sarcoma of the kidney. A study of 13 cases]. / Sarcome rénal à cellules claires. A propos d'une série de 13 cas.

UNLABELLED: Clear cell sarcoma of the kidney (CCSK) also called a "bone-metastasizing renal tumor of childhood" is the second common pediatric renal neoplasm. This tumor is associated with a higher rate of relapse and a wider distribution of metastases than Wilms' tumor. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We have reviewed records of 13 cases of CCSK among 277 renal tumors (5%) diagnosed at the children's hospital of Rabat between 1990 and 2002. RESULTS: The median age at diagnosis was 14 months (5 months-9 years). The male to female ratio was 5.5:1.00. Abdominal mass, usually the first physical finding, was associated with hematuria in four cases. No congenital malformation syndrome or familial Wilms' tumor were observed. Imaging studies found out seven right and six left intrarenal processes. Preoperative chemotherapy was given according to the SIOP9, SIOP93-01 and GFAOP 98 protocols. Twelve of 13 children underwent nephrectomy. Tumor measurements varied through 450-3450 g and 7-26 cm. The classic morphologic pattern was seen in nine cases (69%). The distribution local stage was I: three cases; II: three cases; III: six cases; IV: one case. Postoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy (21 600-30 600 cGy) was done in 10 cases. With a median follow up of 44 months, four patients showed bone metastases (31%), four are alive in CR, four are lost for follow up and five died. CONCLUSION: CCSK remains the pediatric renal tumor most frequently misdiagnosed. Its aggressiveness and its ability to give bone metastases need to recognize early this diagnosis for an adapted treatment.

[Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with protein S deficiency]. / Lymphome non hodgkinien associé à un déficit en protéine S.

Venous thrombosis is rare in children. It can be either acquired or of constitutional origin. Thrombosis during non-Hodgkin lymphoma remains exceptional and is usually locally associated to the tumoral process, raising the issue of its tumoral or cruoric nature. The treatment is based on anticoagulation concomitantly to chemotherapy. We report on a 4-year-old boy admitted for mediastinal non-Hodgkin lymphoma, who developed a thrombosis of the superior vena cava associated to protein S-deficiency. The mechanism of thrombosis may have been multifactorial: associated protein S-deficiency, vascular compression, tumoral process and chemotherapy.

[Intracerebral granulocytic sarcoma. A case report]. / Le sarcome granulocytaire intra-cérébral.

Granulocytic sarcoma is a tumor composed of proliferating myeloblastic cells, generally found in the orbit. A brain localization is rare. We report the case of a 11-year-old boy treated in our unit for acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML 4 Eo. FAB). After 21 months of complete remission, he developed headache and facial palsy. The CT scan visualized the presence of two frontal and occipital masses. The spinal tap revealed blastic cells in the CSF. The study of the bone morrow showed medullar relapse. A new medullar and cerebro-meningeal remission was obtained with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. CSF and the bone marrow studies can help avoid stereotaxic biopsy can be avoided in this type of tumor