0000000000172250
AUTHOR
Roberto Miniero
Acute and chronic hepatitis in childhood leukemia: a multicentric study from the Italian Pediatric Cooperative Group for Therapy of Acute Leukemia (AIL-AIEOP).
The incidence of acute and chronic liver damage and its relation to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was evaluated in 164 consecutive children with acute leukemia seen in ten Italian hemato-pediatric units. Thirteen out of 164 children (7.9%) had acute hepatitis (AH) during treatment, while 8/90 (8.8%) showed an acute exacerbation of liver damage within 6 months after therapy withdrawal. Seven of the 13 children with AH while on therapy were HBsAg positive. In 12/13 cases, liver disease progressed to chronicity. Five of eight children who developed AH after completion of treatment were HBsAg positive. Eighty-nine patients (54.2%) developed biochemical evidence of chronic hepatitis during t…
Early deaths in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL): results of the Italian Pediatric Cooperative Group for Therapy of Acute Leukemia (AIL-AIEOP).
In this retrospective multicentric study, we report on early deaths (ie, those that occurred during the first month of treatment) in a total of 943 newly diagnosed ALL pediatric patients registered from 1976 to 1981 at 21 centers of the AIL-AIEOP. Objectives of this study were as follows: (1) to verify the incidence and the cause of early death in a wide population of children with ALL and (2) to elucidate factors associated with early death and therefore to identify “high-risk” groups of patients. Out of the 943 ALL patients, 39 (4.1%) early deaths were registered. Main causes were infection, 20 patients (51.3%); hemorrhage, 11 patients (28.3%); uric acid nephropathy, 2 patients (5.1%); ca…