We evaluated the feasibility of existing risk assessment tools for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in children. Fifty-five patients with newly diagnosed CML between 1996 and 2019 were included. ...Forty-nine patients presented in chronic phase, thirty-six of whom were treated with upfront tyrosine kinase inhibitor (CP-TKI group); one presented in accelerated phase and four in blastic phase. Treatment, survival, responses, and tolerance were evaluated. All patients in the CP-TKI group received imatinib as their first TKI treatment. The 10-year overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and event-free survival (EFS) of TKI-treated group was 97%, 91.4%, and 72.3%, respectively. At 60 months, the rates of major molecular response were 81.2% and deep molecular response was 67.5%. The EUTOS long-term survival (ELTS) risk grouping did not predict OS, PFS, or EFS. The IMAFAIL risk groups were correlated with the risk of imatinib failure. Further studies are required to modify the existing risk assessment tools for children.
We aimed to interrogate sex differences in cardiac mechanics using two-(2D) and three-(3D) dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in survivors of childhood cancers. 83 survivors (43 ...males) aged 25.6 ± 6.1 years at 16.0 ± 6.1 years after anthracycline therapy and 42 healthy controls (21 males) were studied. 2D STE was performed to assess LV linear deformation in three principal directions, while 3D STE was performed to assess LV ejection fraction, global longitudinal strain (GLS), global circumferential strain (GCS), global radial strain (GRS), and global area strain (GAS). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were generated to to determine the usefulness of 2D and 3D echocardiographic indices to discriminate between survivors and controls. Survivors of both sex had significantly lower 2D and 3D strain indices compared with sex-specific controls (all p < 0.05). Among survivors, 2D GLS and GRS and all of the 3D indices were similar between males and females (all p > 0.05). Among cancer survivors, multivariate analysis revealed age at study (β = − 0.26, p = 0.022) as a significant determinant of 3D GLS. The area under the ROC curve for 3D GLS was the largest at 0.89 amongst all 3D and 2D strain parameters, while that of 2D GLS was 0.83. For 3D GLS, a cut-off of 16.4% had a sensitivity of 85.7% and a specificity of 80.7% of differentiating survivors from controls. Notwithstanding the finding of impaired LV myocardial mechanics, the present study did not reveal evidence of sexual dimorphism in cardiac mechanics in long term survivors of childhood cancers.
Emerging evidence suggests potential arterial damage with the use of anthracycline-based chemotherapeutic regimens. We determined arterial function at rest and during exercise in ...anthracycline-treated adult survivors of childhood cancers.
Ninety-six adult survivors (54 males) aged 25.0 ± 5.9 years and 60 (30 males) healthy controls were studied. Central systolic blood pressure (cSBP) and radial augmentation index (rAI) was determined by applanation tonometry. Carotid arterial stiffness and intima-media thickness (IMT) were assessed using high-resolution ultrasound.
At rest, survivors had significantly greater carotid IMT (
< 0.001) and stiffness index (p < 0.001), and higher cSBP (
= 0.037), rAI (
= 0.004) and rAI adjusted for a heart rate of 75/min (
= 0.009) than controls. At submaximal supine exercise testing, survivors had significantly greater percentage increase in carotid stiffness than controls (
< 0.001). Among survivors, 32 and 53% had respectively carotid IMT and exercise stiffness index exceeding normal (> + 2SD of controls). The slopes of increase in carotid IMT (
< 0.001) and exercise-induced changes in carotid stiffness (
< 0.001) with age were significantly greater in survivors than controls. Multivariate analysis revealed carotid IMT (β = 0.32,
< 0.001) to be an significant correlate of dynamic percentage increase in stiffness index during exercise.
Arterial dysfunction is evident at rest and worsens during exercise in anthracycline-treated adult survivors of childhood cancers.
Objective: To elucidate if the course of acute appendicitis is influenced by the variable positions of the appendix. The appendix positions were divided into two groups: (i) the anterior group, which ...included the anterior, the pelvic and the paracaecal positions; and (ii) the posterior group, which included the retrocaecal and retroileal positions.
Method: The hospital records of 161 patients who underwent appendectomy for acute appendicitis from January 2000 to June 2001 at Prince of Wales Hospital were reviewed retrospectively.
Results: Clinicians’ delay in reaching the diagnosis was longer in the posterior group (9.9 h vs 5.8 h; P=0.043). However, complicated appendicitis (gangrenous changes, perforation or abscess formation) was not associated with the appendix location (P = 0.078). The median operating time for laparoscopic appendectomies lasted longer in the posterior group (77.5 min vs 60 min; P = 0.02). These patients also had a longer hospital stay (6 days vs 4 days; P = 0.049). No difference was observed among patients who underwent open surgery.
Conclusion: Appendices in the ‘hidden’ position did not translate into a higher incidence of complicated appendicitis or postoperative complications except for the slightly longer hospital stay in patients treated by laparoscopy. Therefore, we concluded that the location of appendices does not affect the clinical course of appendicitis in the locality studied.
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