Bone mineralization defects after treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children.

AIM: Aim of the study was to assess bone metabolism disturbances in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia following cessation of chemotherapy. For this purpose we measured bone mineral density (BMD) and evaluated bone metabolism markers. METHODS: Seventy-five patients (37 female, 38 males, mean age 10.77±3.80 years) were included. Lumbar spine BMD was measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry and serum calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, parathyroid hormone and 25OH vitamin D levels were analyzed. For characteristics of all patients at diagnosis data were retreived from hospital records and analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 18.66% (14 patients) of patients were osteoporotic (z score <-2 SD), 22.67% (17 patients) were osteopenic (z-score between -2 and -1 SD) and 58.67% (44 patients) presented normal z-scores (>-1 SD). There were no statisticaly significant differences between normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic groups for mean serum vitamine D (P=0.677), calcium (P=0.280), phosphorus (P=0.179), magnesium (P=0.675), ALP (P=0.092) and serum PTH (P=0.915) levels. According to ages (P=0.745) and gender (P=0.810) there were no significant differences in BMD. There were no significant differences between normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic patients for the total dose of prednisolone (P=0.334), dexamethasone, (P=0.734), methotrexate (P=0.911), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (P=0.173) and cranial irradiation (P=0.912) they have received during chemotherapy. Bone fracture and aseptic necrosis rates were 12%, 8%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Osteoporosis and osteopenia are still observed in high rates after chemotherapy. We must be aware of this morbidity and must screen the patients for decreased BMD during the long duration of leukemia treatment. Supportive treatments should be evaluated to minimize these serious complications.

Spontaneous remission of acute lymphoblastic leukemia with mediastinal mass.

Spontaneous remission/regression of cancer is defined as partial or complete disappearance of malignant disease temporarily or permanently in the absence of medical treatment. This event is named as spontaneous regression for solid tumors and spontaneous remission for leukemia. The authors report the case of a girl aged 4 years and 3 months, who presented with mediastinal mass and leukemic findings in the bone marrow both of which reappeared after spontaneous regression and remission, respectively.

Bloodstream infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus in a university hospital in Turkey: clinical and molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

In total, 177 patients with bloodstream infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus (BSISA) were investigated prospectively between June 1999 and June 2001. Of these, 19.8% had community-acquired BSISA, while 80.2% had nosocomial BSISA. Surgical intervention, foreign body, mechanical ventilation, total parenteral nutrition, and previous antibiotic treatment were found to be important risk factors for the nosocomial BSISA group. Secondary BSISA formed a greater proportion (62.9%) of community-acquired infections than of nosocomial infections (26.8%; p 0.0001). Catheter-related nosocomial BSISA was observed in 72.1% of patients. The suppurative complication rate was significantly higher among community-acquired infections (22.9%) than among nosocomial infections (6.3%; p 0.008). Of the nosocomial BSISA, 65.5% were methicillin-resistant. Analysis of 80 methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified ten main clones (A-J), but 61 (76.3%) of the 80 isolates belonged to clone A.