Summary Background Comparative assessment of treatment results in paediatric hepatoblastoma trials has been hampered by small patient numbers and the use of multiple disparate staging systems by the ...four major trial groups. To address this challenge, we formed a global coalition, the Children's Hepatic tumors International Collaboration (CHIC), with the aim of creating a common approach to staging and risk stratification in this rare cancer. Methods The CHIC steering committee—consisting of leadership from the four major cooperative trial groups (the International Childhood Liver Tumours Strategy Group, Children's Oncology Group, the German Society for Paediatric Oncology and Haematology, and the Japanese Study Group for Paediatric Liver Tumours)—created a shared international database that includes comprehensive data from 1605 children treated in eight multicentre hepatoblastoma trials over 25 years. Diagnostic factors found to be most prognostic on initial analysis were PRETreatment EXTent of disease (PRETEXT) group; age younger than 3 years, 3–7 years, and 8 years or older; α fetoprotein (AFP) concentration of 100 ng/mL or lower and 101–1000 ng/mL; and the PRETEXT annotation factors metastatic disease (M), macrovascular involvement of all hepatic veins (V) or portal bifurcation (P), contiguous extrahepatic tumour (E), multifocal tumour (F), and spontaneous rupture (R). We defined five clinically relevant backbone groups on the basis of established prognostic factors: PRETEXT I/II, PRETEXT III, PRETEXT IV, metastatic disease, and AFP concentration of 100 ng/mL or lower at diagnosis. We then carried the additional factors into a hierarchical backwards elimination multivariable analysis and used the results to create a new international staging system. Results Within each backbone group, we identified constellations of factors that were most predictive of outcome in that group. The robustness of candidate models was then interrogated using the bootstrapping procedure. Using the clinically established PRETEXT groups I, II, III, and IV as our stems, we created risk stratification trees based on 5 year event-free survival and clinical applicability. We defined and adopted four risk groups: very low, low, intermediate, and high. Interpretation We have created a unified global approach to risk stratification in children with hepatoblastoma on the basis of rigorous statistical interrogation of what is, to the best of our knowledge, the largest dataset ever assembled for this rare paediatric tumour. This achievement provides the structural framework for further collaboration and prospective international cooperative study, such as the Paediatric Hepatic International Tumour Trial (PHITT). Funding European Network for Cancer Research in Children and Adolescents, funded through the Framework Program 7 of the European Commission ( grant number 261474 ); Children's Oncology Group CureSearch grant contributed by the Hepatoblastoma Foundation; Practical Research for Innovative Cancer Control and Project Promoting Clinical Trials for Development of New Drugs and Medical Devices, Japan Agency for Medical Research; and Swiss Cancer Research grant.
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As a rare pediatric tumor, hepatoblastoma presents challenges to the individual practitioner as no center will see more than a handful of cases each year.
The Children's Hepatic tumor International ...Collaborative (CHIC) effort has fostered international cooperation in this rare children's tumor, leading to the establishment of a large international collaborative dataset, the CHIC database, which has been interrogated to refine risk stratification and inform treatment options. Apace with this effort has been the international collaboration of pediatric pathologists working together to establish a new international histopathologic consensus classification for pediatric liver tumors as a whole, with particular focus on the histological subtypes of hepatoblastoma.
International collaborative efforts in hepatoblastoma have led to a new international histopathologic consensus classification, refinements in risk stratification, advances in chemotherapy, and a better understanding of surgical resection options forming the foundation for the development of an upcoming international therapeutic trial.
Children with pure fetal histology (PFH) hepatoblastoma treated with complete surgical resection and minimal adjuvant therapy have been shown to have excellent outcomes when compared with other ...patients with hepatoblastoma. We prospectively studied the safety and efficacy of reducing therapy in all children with stage I PFH enrolled onto two consecutive studies.
From August 1989 to December 1992, 9 children with stage I PFH were treated on the Intergroup Hepatoblastoma study INT-0098 and were nonrandomly assigned to receive chemotherapy after surgical resection with single-agent bolus doxorubicin for 3 consecutive days. From March 1999 to November 2006, 16 children with stage I PFH enrolled onto Children's Oncology Group Study P9645 were treated with observation after resection. Central confirmation of the histologic diagnosis by a study group pathologist was mandated. The extent of liver disease was assigned retrospectively according to the pretreatment extent of disease (PRETEXT) system and is designated "retro-PRETEXT" to clarify the retrospective group assignment.
Five-year event-free and overall survival for the 9 patients treated on INT-0098 were 100%. All 16 patients enrolled onto the P9645 study were alive and free of disease at the time of last contact, with a median follow-up of 4.9 years. Retro-PRETEXT for the 21 patients with available data revealed seven patients with stage I disease, 10 patients with stage II disease, and four patients with stage III disease.
Children with completely resected PFH hepatoblastoma can achieve long-term survival without additional chemotherapy. When feasible, surgical resection of hepatoblastoma at diagnosis, without chemotherapy, can identify children for whom no additional therapy is necessary.
To determine whether overall survival (OS) can be preserved for patients with stage I pediatric malignant ovarian germ cell tumor (MOGCT) with an initial strategy of surveillance after surgical ...resection.
Between November 2003 and July 2011, girls age 0 to 16 years with stage I MOGCT were enrolled onto Children's Oncology Group study AGCT0132. Required histology included yolk sac, embryonal carcinoma, or choriocarcinoma. Surveillance included measurement of serum tumor markers and radiologic imaging at defined intervals. In those with residual or recurrent disease, chemotherapy with compressed PEB (cisplatin, etoposide, and bleomycin) was initiated every 3 weeks for three cycles (cisplatin 33 mg/m(2) on days 1 to 3, etoposide 167 mg/m(2) on days 1 to 3, bleomycin 15 U/m(2) on day 1). Survivor functions for event-free survival (EFS) and OS were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Twenty-five girls (median age, 12 years) with stage I MOGCT were enrolled onto AGCT0132. Twenty-three patients had elevated alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) at diagnosis. Predominant histology was yolk sac. After a median follow-up of 42 months, 12 patients had evidence of persistent or recurrent disease (4-year EFS, 52%; 95% CI, 31% to 69%). Median time to recurrence was 2 months. All patients had elevated AFP at recurrence; six had localized disease, two had metastatic disease, and four had tumor marker elevation only. Eleven of 12 patients experiencing relapse received successful salvage chemotherapy (4-year OS, 96%; 95% CI, 74% to 99%).
Fifty percent of patients with stage I pediatric MOGCT can be spared chemotherapy; treatment for those who experience recurrence preserves OS. Further study is needed to identify the factors that predict recurrence and whether this strategy can be extended successfully to older adolescents and young adults.
Background
Stagnant outcomes for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) 15–39 years of age with cancer are partly attributed to poor enrollment onto clinical trials. Initiatives have focused on ...increasing accrual, but changes at the population‐level are unknown. We examined patterns of clinical trial participation over time in AYA patients with cancer.
Procedure
We utilized medical record data from AYAs in two population‐based National Cancer Institute Patterns of Care Studies identified through the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results Program. Among 3135 AYAs diagnosed with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and sarcoma, we used multivariate logistic regression to evaluate patient and provider characteristics associated with clinical trial enrollment. Interaction terms evaluated variation in clinical trial enrollment across patient and provider characteristics by year of diagnosis.
Results
From 2006 to 2012–2013, clinical trial participation increased from 14.8% to 17.9% (P < 0.01). Adjusting for patient and provider characteristics, we found lower clinical trial enrollment among those who were older at diagnosis, diagnosed with NHL vs ALL, treated by adult hematologist/oncologists only (vs pediatric hematologist/oncologists), and of non‐Hispanic Black race/ethnicity (vs non‐Hispanic White) (P < 0.05 for all). Interaction analyses indicate improved clinical trial enrollment from 2006 to 2012–2013 among young adults 25–29 years of age and the uninsured.
Conclusions
Although disparities in enrollment onto clinical trials remain for AYAs with cancer, our study identified increasing overall clinical trial participation over time. Further, we identify promising trends in enrollment uptake among AYAs 25–29 years of age and the uninsured.
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Hepatoblastoma treatment with curative intent requires surgical resection, but only about a third of newly diagnosed patients with hepatoblastoma have resectable disease at diagnosis. Patients who ...have upfront resection typically receive a total of 4–6 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy post-surgery, with the combination of cisplatin, fluorouracil, and vincristine. We aimed to investigate whether event-free survival in children with hepatoblastoma who had complete resection at diagnosis could be maintained with two cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy.
In this Children's Oncology Group, multicentre, phase 3 trial, patients were enrolled in four risk groups on the basis of Evans surgical stage, tumour histology, and levels of α-fetoprotein at diagnosis to receive risk-adapted therapy. Here, we report on the low-risk stratum of the trial. Eligible patients were younger than 21 years and had histologically confirmed, stage I or II hepatoblastoma without 100% pure fetal stage I or small-cell undifferentiated histology; elevated serum α-fetoprotein level (>100 ng/mL); a complete resection at diagnosis; at least 50% Karnofsky (patients >16 years) or Lansky (patients ≤16 years) performance status; and had received no previous chemotherapy or other hepatoblastoma-directed therapy. Patients received two 21-day cycles of cisplatin, fluorouracil, and vincristine within 42 days of resection, consisting of cisplatin (100 mg/m2 per dose or 3·3 mg/kg per dose for children <10 kg) intravenously over 6 h on day 1; fluorouracil (600 mg/m2 per dose or 20 mg/kg per dose for children <10 kg) intravenous push on day 2; and vincristine (1·5 mg/m2 per day to a maximum dose of 2 mg, or 0·05 mg/kg per day for children <10 kg) intravenous push on days 2, 9, and 16. The primary outcome was investigator-assessed event-free survival. As prespecified by protocol, we analysed the primary endpoint 6 years after enrolment (cutoff date June 30, 2017). This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00980460, and is now permanently closed to accrual.
Between May 18, 2010, and May 28, 2014, 51 patients in 32 centres in two countries were enrolled into the low-risk stratum of this trial, of whom 49 received c hemotherapy treatment after surgery and were evaluable for activity and safety. Median follow-up time for all evaluable patients was 42 months (IQR 36–62). 4-year event-free survival was 92% (95% CI 79–97) and 5-year event-free survival was 88% (72–95). Two (4%) of 49 patients had surgical complications (bile leaks). The most common grade 3–4 adverse events were febrile neutropenia in seven (14%) patients, decreased neutrophil count in three (6%) patients, infections in four (8%) patients, and diarrhoea in four (8%) patients. Ototoxicity occurred in one (2%) patient. One (2%) patient of the three who relapsed in this cohort died from disease. Two (4%) patients died in clinical remission after therapy discontinuation. One patient died of pneumonia and bacterial sepsis 1 year after therapy discontinuation and another patient died of unrelated causes 57 months after therapy completion. There were no treatment-related deaths.
Minimal postoperative chemotherapy with two cycles of cisplatin, fluorouracil, and vincristine can ensure disease control in patients with hepatoblastoma resected at diagnosis. Our results show that dose reduction of ototoxic agents is a safe, effective treatment for these children.
National Institutes of Health
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Summary
Little is known about the incidence of late effects following non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) among adolescent and young adult (AYA, 15–39 years) survivors. Using data from the California Cancer ...Registry linked to hospital discharge, we estimated the cumulative incidence of late effects at 10 years among AYAs diagnosed with NHL during 1996–2012, who survived ≥2 years. Cox proportional‐hazards models were used to investigate the influence of sociodemographic and clinical factors on the occurrence of late effects. Of 4392 HIV‐uninfected patients, the highest incident diseases were: endocrine (18·5%), cardiovascular (11·7%), and respiratory (5·0%), followed by secondary primary malignancy (SPM, 2·6%), renal and neurologic (2·2%), liver/pancreatic (2·0%), and avascular necrosis (1·2%). Among the 425 HIV‐infected survivors, incidence was higher for all late effects, especially over threefold increased risk of SPM, compared to HIV‐uninfected patients (8·1% vs. 2·6%). In multivariable models for HIV‐uninfected patients, public or no health insurance (vs. private), residence in lower socioeconomic neighbourhoods (vs. higher), and receipt of a haematopoietic stem cell transplant were associated with a greater risk of most late effects. Our findings of substantial incidence of late effects among NHL AYA survivors emphasise the need for longterm follow‐up and appropriate survivorship care to reduce morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population.
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