Treatment of high-grade osteoblastic osteosarcoma of the humerus in a 5-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis: A case report

Difficulties in the management of an Askin tumor in a pediatric patient with cystic fibrosis: case report and literature review

Treating Ewing's Sarcoma of the thorax (Askin's tumor) with antineoplastic therapy in a malnourished cystic fibrosis patient colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus may carry a significant potential for complications. We present the case of a known cystic fibrosis patient, diagnosed with Askin's tumor 5 years ago. Despite facing severe neutropenia, exacerbations of cystic fibrosis with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, and challenges in maintaining adequate caloric intake during the oncological treatment, the patient's outcome has been favorable. Chemotherapy doses had to be adjusted, and continuous antibiotic treatment was introduced throughout the course of therapy to reduce the frequency and intensity of exacerbations. Approximately 5 years after the cancer diagnosis, with no signs of relapse, the patient was started on CFTR (Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator) modulator treatment. This intervention has successfully corrected the weight deficit. The coincidence of Ewing's sarcoma of the chest wall and cystic fibrosis in a single patient is 2.857 × 10-5% and to the best of our knowledge, this scenario has not been documented before.

[Prophylactic antibiotherapy in hip arthroplasty. Cohort study]

OBJECTIVE

The surgical site infection is the main cause of nosocomial infection in surgical patients, being antibiotic prophylaxis one of the most important factors for preventing it. This study evaluates adequacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in hip arthroplasty surgery as well as its effect on preventing surgical site infection.

METHODS

A prospective cohort study was carried out from January 2011 to December 2016. We assessed the degree of adequacy of antibiotic prophylaxis in hip arthroplasty. Incidence of surgical site infection was studied after a maximum incubation period of 90 days. In order to assess the effect of inadequate prophylaxis on surgical site infection we used the relative risk adjusted with a logistic regression model.

RESULTS

We studied 681 patients. Incidence of surgical site infection was 4% (95% CI 2.5-5.5). Antibiotic prophylaxis was administered in 99% of cases, with an overall protocol adequacy of 74%. The main cause of non-compliance was the length of prescription (22.2%; 149 patients). The effect of inadequate prophylaxis on surgical site infection was RRadjusted=0.47; 95%CI 0.19-1.17, (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Adequacy of antibiotic prophylaxis was high. No relationship between prophylaxis adequacy and incidence of surgical site infection was founded. Surveillance allows us to assess surgical site infection and risk factors.

Osteogenic Sarcoma in an Adolescent With Cystic Fibrosis: Successful Treatment Despite Significant Obstacles

Introduction: We describe the case of a 16-year old male with cystic fiborosis (CF) who presented with an osteosarcoma of his right distal tibia. Case Report: Treatment consisted of neoadjuvant chemotherapy of cisplatin, doxorubicin and high dose methotrexate followed by distal tibial resection and free fibula flap reconstruction and consolidation chemotherapy. Treatment was complicated by a pulmonary exacerbation, where Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PsA) and Staphylococcus aureus were grown on sputum culture which was treated with a 2-week course of intravenous piptazobactam and tobramycin. Mycobacterium intracellulare and Mycobacterium abscessus were also cultured following commencement of chemotherapy and successfully treated with a 6-month course of oral azithromycin, ethambutol, and moxifloxacin along with a 1-month course of inhaled amikacin. Pulmonary function improved during his treatment from baseline FEV1 of 3.8 l (93.9%) to 4.15 l (102.3% predicted) whilst nutritional status remained stable. Discussion: The combination of CF and osteosarcoma is rare with only one previous case reported (1). Our case is instructive as the patient faced the challenge of chronic PsA and the first reported culturing and successful treatment of non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) during chemotherapy. Fatal outcomes have been reported previously for CF patients during immunosuppression (2). In concordance with our findings, a recent report noted an improvement in respiratory function in a child treated for leukemia (3). The anti-inflammatory nature of some chemotherapy agents could be responsible for the observed clinical improvement in CF with low dose methotrexate having been shown to increase FEV1 in adolescents with advanced CF (4). Whilst doxorubicin could improve pulmonary outcomes through increased total cellular CFTR protein expression and CFTR associated chloride secretion (5). It is hypothesized that the improved pulmonary function in patients with CF who require chemotherapy could be due to increased production of Multi-Drug Resistance Proteins (MDR) and Multi-Drug Resistant Associated Proteins (MRP) that may complement the depleted CFTR protein (6). Concluding Remarks: We report the well-tolerated management of osteosarcoma in a patient with CF including the first reported identification and eradication of NTM during chemotherapy. The observed positive pulmonary outcome following chemotherapy highlights several potential cellular mechanisms that deserve to be explored.