Safety and efficacy of arsenic trioxide in intensification therapy for newly diagnosed childhood acute promyelocytic leukemia: results from the JPLSG AML-P13 study.

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) in combination with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) has been shown to be effective in both adult and pediatric patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Addition of ATO to conventional chemotherapy could lead to a reduction in the doses of cytotoxic agents, but the long-term safety of ATO is not fully understood, especially in children. The Japan Children's Cancer Group conducted a risk-stratified prospective study to investigate safety and efficacy of ATO in children with newly diagnosed APL by replacing all three intensification phases with ATO.

Estimating Number of Nephrons in Living Pediatric Patients Using Nephrectomy Specimens.

Introduction: The number of nephrons is a critical determinant of renal health, because chronic kidney disease often results from a reduction in functional nephrons. Variability in the number of nephrons is influenced by genetic, racial, prenatal, and postnatal factors. Estimating the number of nephrons is crucial for establishing a baseline, before the onset of age-related nephron loss.

Favorable outcomes of de novo advanced phases of pediatric chronic myeloid leukemia in the tyrosine kinase inhibitor era.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a rare disease during childhood, and accelerated phase (AP) and blast phase (BP) CML, also called advanced phases, are even rarer. We retrospectively collected and analyzed clinical data of children younger than 20 years with de novo advanced-phase CML between 1996 and 2017 in Japan. Median follow-up time was 8.

Localized Lymphoblastic Lymphoma in Children and Adolescents: Results of the LLB-NHL03 Trial-A Report From the Japan Children's Cancer Group.

Background: Localized lymphoblastic lymphoma (LL) is rare in pediatric patients. The best treatment for patients with localized LL remains to be determined because of the rarity of the disease.

Methods: Between November 2004 and October 2019, 41 newly diagnosed patients up to 18 years of age with localized LL (Murphy stages I and II) were enrolled in the LLB-NHL03 trial.

JCCG ALL-B12: Evaluation of Intensified Therapies With Vincristine/Dexamethasone Pulses and Asparaginase and Augmented High-Dose Methotrexate for Pediatric B-ALL.

Purpose: The JCCG ALL-B12 clinical trial aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of unvalidated treatment phases for pediatric ALL and develop a safety-focused treatment framework.

Patients And Methods: Patients age 1-19 years with newly diagnosed B-ALL were enrolled in this study. These patients were stratified into standard-risk (SR), intermediate-risk (IR), and high-risk (HR) groups.

Magnesium supplementation therapy to prevent cisplatin-induced acute nephrotoxicity in pediatric cancer: a randomized phase-2 trial.

Background: The present study aimed to examine the effect of magnesium (Mg) supplementation on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity (CIN) in pediatric cancer patients.

Methods: The present phase-2, open-label, multicenter, randomized controlled trial enrolled patients aged less than 20 years who were scheduled to receive cisplatin-containing chemotherapy and randomly allocated them at a ratio of 1:1 to a Mg supplementation arm with even-numbered chemotherapy courses (arm AB) or another arm with odd-numbered courses (arm BA). Analysis objects were reconstructed into two groups depending on whether the chemotherapy course had Mg supplementation (group B) or not (group A).

False-Positive Asymmetrical Tongue Muscle 18F-FDG Uptake in Hypoglossal Nerve Paralysis Following Lymph Node Dissection in a Pediatric Patient with Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor of the Neck.

Background: Although positron emission tomography combined with computed tomography (PET-CT) plays an important role in detecting various types of childhood malignancy, it has low positive predictive value, owing to the nonspecific uptake of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) by normal tissue in various benign conditions.

Case Summary: A 5-year-old male patient with a malignant rhabdoid tumor originating in the left neck underwent primary tumor resection concurrently with ipsilateral lymph node dissection after receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide, carboplatin, etoposide, vincristine, and doxorubicin. He later received the same adjuvant chemotherapy as well as proton therapy for the primary tumor.

Treatment of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Historical Perspective.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common disease in pediatric oncology. The history of developmental therapeutics for ALL began in the 1960s with the repetition of "unreliable" medical interventions against this lethal disease. By the 1990s, the development of multi-agent chemotherapy and various types of supportive care rendered ALL treatable.

Reduced-intensity allogenic transplantation for children and adolescents with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Survival rates of patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL (Ph+ALL) have improved considerably with the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI); however, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) continues to play an important role. Reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens have been widely applied particularly for older patients, but their validity for children and adolescents with Ph+ALL has not been investigated. In this study, data from patients receiving HSCT for de novo Ph+ALL in first or second remission at ages younger than 25 years and with a history of pre-HSCT TKI therapy were retrospectively collected through the nationwide registry in Japan.

Adverse Events in Pediatric Inpatients: The Japan Adverse Event Study.

Objectives: Adverse events (AEs) represent an important cause of morbidity and mortality for pediatric inpatients; however, reports on their epidemiology in pediatrics, especially outside Western countries, are scarce. We investigated the incidence and nature of AEs in pediatric inpatients in Japan.

Methods: Trained pediatrician and pediatric nurses reviewed all medical documents of 1126 pediatric inpatients in 2 tertiary care teaching hospitals in Japan, and potential incidents were collected with patients' characteristics.