Pediatric Cancers

Racial and ethnic disparities in incidence and risk of childhood cancer have been identified across a number of malignancies.

KEY POINTS • Synovial sarcomas are often mistreated with unplanned tumor resection. • Attention from specialists early in the course of SS can minimize the risk of recurrence, metastases, and the necessity for resurgery, all of which are increased with unplanned tumor resection. • Chemotherapy alone does not provide sufficient local control of the tumor. • Resurgery, in conjunction with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, is the best choice of management for this patient.

Based on recent study results, investigators recommended TBI plus etoposide for patients older than 4 years of age with high-risk ALL undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

“As the number of AYA survivors continues to grow, there is a pressing need for targeted information, education, and intervention around sexual health, intimate relationships, and body image,” the Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AYA Oncology Discipline Committee wrote in a review.

Payne and colleagues indicated that a significant number of adolescent and young adult women are still not being given the information they desire regarding fertility preservation and therefore are not making fully informed treatment decisions.

The FDA granted accelerated approval to naxitamab-gqgk (Danyelza) in combination with GM-CSF for the treatment of pediatric patients 1 year of age and older and adult patients with relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow who have demonstrated a partial response, minor response, or stable disease to prior therapy.

A study found that radiation therapy to treat childhood abdominal and pelvic cancers potentially caused body composition abnormalities and worse cardiometabolic health for adult survivors compared to the general public.

This study is intended to “investigate how chemotherapy disrupts sensory processing, memory, and attention in children; where in the brain the damage is occurring; and whether there is a biomarker that can identify those who are most vulnerable.”

This study found that abdominal or pelvic radiotherapy was associated with body composition changes that can adversely influence metabolic outcomes and performance status in survivors of abdominal or pelvic tumors.

Study findings suggested that survivors with severe hearing loss are at a significantly increased risk for neurocognitive deficits, independent of what type of therapy they receive.

A complete response letter was issued to Fennec Pharmaceuticals regarding the new drug application for a unique formulation of sodium thiosulfate (Pedmark).

Jennifer M. Yeh, PhD, spoke about study findings which indicated that instituting annual breast cancer screening with MRI at ages 25 to 30 years may reduce breast cancer mortality by 50% or more in survivors of childhood cancer.

These findings suggested that instituting annual breast cancer screening with MRI earlier may reduce breast cancer mortality by at least 50% in survivors of childhood cancer.

These results indicated the necessity for providers to address the concerns of AYAs with cancer, including those of a spiritual nature.

AYAs with cancer indicated that they value early information about the risks of late effects and infertility, though many patients also felt that they had not been given this high-quality information.

Regardless of these improvements though, researchers noted that cancer survivors remain at risk for shorter lifespans, particularly when radiotherapy was utilized as a part of their childhood cancer treatment.

Combined with intensive chemotherapy, the next-generation inhibitor provided excellent results in pediatric patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL, leading to changes in how this population is treated.

This study indicated the necessity for healthcare providers to initiate discussions on the experience of hearing loss for cancer survivors, as well as care options and interventions.

Stroke and stroke recurrence were associated with increased mortality and a negative impact on health-related quality of life measures in survivors of pediatric cancer.

Using RNA sequencing for individual pediatric cancer cases could more effectively target gene expression in tumors.

Approximately 25% of patients with tumor samples submitted to the Pediatric MATCH program have been matched to an investigational therapy at an interim analysis reported ahead of the ASCO Annual Meeting.

Researchers investigated the risk of subsequent primary neoplasms in survivors of adolescent and young adult cancer.

Results of a study evaluating the safety and efficacy of a promising new agent were presented at ASH 2018.

The percentage of patients with pediatric melanoma is 6-fold to the 28-fold higher when compared with the general population of patients with melanoma.

Six months of maintenance chemotherapy improved OS in children with high-risk rhabdomyosarcoma.