Primary ovarian tumors in children: a single center experience of 124 patients

BACKGROUND

Primary ovarian tumors are rare in the pediatric age group. We reviewed our 40-year experience with ovarian tumors to evalute the clinical features and treatment results in a single institution.

METHODS

Between January 1975 and October 2015, 124 girls with primary ovarian tumor were diagnosed and treated in our center. Tumors were identified with biopsy or total resection and/or serum markers. Seventy four children were included in the treatment analysis.

RESULTS

Median age for 124 children was 11.0 years (0.73-17.63). The main complaint was abdominal pain in 85 patients (68.5%). One hundred and five patients (84.6%) had total one-sided salpingo-oophorectomy and five patients had bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Amongst 124 cases, 29 patients had mature teratoma, which was the most common tumor in this study. Dysgerminoma (n=21) was the most common malignant histopathologic type. Stage I disease was diagnosed in 57.2% and stage IV in 6.6% of the patients. Five year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) for 124 children were 82.5% and 76.3% respectively. For 74 children who received treatment, 5-year OS and EFS were 75.2% and 67.1%, respectively. Age (p < 0.017), histopathological subgroup (p < 0.001), stage (p =0.003) and chemotherapy protocols (p =0.049) were significant prognostic factors for OS.

CONCLUSIONS

The survival rates in children with ovarian tumors were comparable with studies in the literature. Although patients treated with platin based regimens had better survival rates, prognosis was still poor for the patients in advanced stages. This should be the focus for further studies and improvements.

Evaluation of Clinical Findings in Children with Chylothorax: A Descriptive Study

OBJECTIVE

Chylothorax refers to the presence of chyle in the pleural space. There are multiple etiologies of chylothorax. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the clinical manifestations, causes, and treatment of chylothorax in childhood and also to show the differences between the 2 age groups admitted to a tertiary care children's hospital. The second aim was to evaluate the clinical and radiologic features of patients diagnosed as having Gorham-Stout disease via chylothorax.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The archives were reviewed for chylothorax documented in the last 31 years. Twenty-two patients (11 girls and 11 boys) were included. Patients were divided into 2 groups: the younger group aged under 24 months and the older group aged over 24 months.

RESULTS

A total of 22 patients had chylothorax, and 10 were aged younger than 24 months. In the younger group, etiologies were in order congenital heart surgery, congenital chylothorax, and Gorham-Stout disease. In the older group, etiologies were Gorham-Stout disease, congenital heart surgery, heart failure, heart transplantation, thrombus, intestinal lymphangiectasia, and idiopathic. The most common treatment in the younger group was the medium-chain triglyceride diet (70%), and in the older group, it was sirolimus (50%).

CONCLUSION

There is a wide variety of underlying etiologies in childhood, so a multidisciplinary approach is important to identify the underlying diagnosis. The common etiologies were postoperative and Gorham-Stout disease in our study. All patients with Gorham-Stout disease had a good prognosis. Gorham-Stout disease should be considered in patients of any age with a diagnosis of chylothorax who have bone lesions.

Primary spinal multifocal intradural-extramedullary Ewing sarcoma in children: presentation of a case and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Primary spinal, intradural, extramedullary Ewing sarcoma (PSIEES) is exceptionally uncommon. Here, we present an interesting pediatric case with a PSIEES diagnosis confirmed by the presence of a specific fusion protein in the tumor tissue and who then developed a cerebellar recurrence. We also reviewed the PSIEES cases in childhood reported in the literature.

CASE

An 8.5-year-old boy was admitted to a local hospital with a one-month history of severe back and limb pain, and inability to move his lower limbs. Physical examination revealed paraparesis in the lower extremities. Spinal MRI revealed multiple intradural extramedullary masses at the L2-L3, L4-5 and L5-S1 levels. He underwent surgery and near total excision of all three masses were performed. Histopathological diagnosis of Ewing Sarcoma was confirmed with EWS-ERG gene rearrangement. The patient was treated according to EuroEwing chemotherapy protocol. A total dose of 4500 cGy radiotherapy was applied to the tumor location at L2-S1 paravertebral region. Eighteen months after the end of treatment, a mass in the left cerebellar hemisphere was determined. Gross total excision was performed. Histopathological examination of the tumor showed Ewing sarcoma. Radiological screening revealed isolated central nervous system recurrence. A total of 4500 cGy radiotherapy was applied. He is on a second-line treatment consisting of gemcitabine and docetaxel without any evidence of disease.

CONCLUSIONS

Ewing Sarcoma with spinal intradural region in childhood is very rare. We could only find 17 pediatric cases reported in the literature. Neurological findings occur earlier in tumors of this region. The prognosis is worse than other extraosseous Ewing sarcoma.

Paediatric appendiceal neuroendocrine tumours: a review of 33 cases from a single center

BACKGROUND

Appendiceal neurendocrine tumours (NETs) are rare neoplasms and diagnosis is commonly incidental following appendectomy. We aimed to review our experience with appendiceal NETs.

METHODS

Records of children with appendiceal NETs were reviewed and data concerning demographic characteristics, clinical findings, surgical procedures, histopathological findings, management and outcomes were recorded.

RESULTS

Between 1985 and 2021, 33 cases with appendiceal NETs (median age 11.8 years, range 7.8-16; male/female = 10/23) were identified. All but one patients presented with abdominal pain, six had vomiting, four had fever and they underwent appendectomies with presumed diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Abscess drainage and appendectomy was performed in a 16-year-old girl for suspected right ovarian mass, and tumour was positive in the omentum. Histopathological diagnosis was classical carcinoid tumour (NET) in all cases. Median tumour size was 0.9 cm (n = 26, range, 0.1-3.5 cm); tumours were ≤1 cm in 19 cases, 2 cm in one, 3.5 cm in another case. Tumours were located in the tip (n = 11), body (n = 6) and base of appendix (n = 1) (in others data unavailable). In 28 patients with data, tumour extended to submucosa in five, to tunica muscularis in seven, to subserosa in six, to serosa in six, to mesoappendix in three, to periappendiceal fat in one. Three cases were lost to follow-up, 31 cases were alive (median follow-up 53 months).

CONCLUSIONS

Paediatric appendiceal NETs do not behave aggressively and appendectomy alone is sufficient for tumours ≤2 cm regardless of local invasion. The need for further extensive surgery in tumours >2 cm also remains controversial.

Primary Paraspinal and Spinal Epidural Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in Childhood

Primary paraspinal/spinal epidural lymphoma (PPSEL) is rare in childhood. Here, we retrospectively evaluated patients with PPSEL treated in our department. We also reviewed the cases reported in the literature. Fifteen of 1354 non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases diagnosed over a 38-year period were PPSEPL. There were 11 male individuals and 4 female individuals with a median age of 13 years. Most common symptoms were pain and limb weakness. Physical examination revealed spinal cord compression in 80% of patients. The most common tumor location was the lumbar region. Histopathologic subtypes were lymphoblastic lymphoma in 6 and Burkitt lymphom in 5 patients. Subtotal or near-total excision of the tumor with laminectomy was performed in 6 patients. Thirteen and 9 patients received chemotherapy and radiotherapy, respectively. Neurologic recovery was observed in 70% of patients. Seven patients were alive without disease at a median of 88 months. Overall and event-free survival rates were 61.7% and 50.1%, respectively. We reviewed clinical features, treatment, and outcome of 69 PPSEL cases reported in the literature. Neurologic recovery and long-term survival was achieved in 66.7% of them. Heterogeneity in diagnostic methods and treatment have made it difficult to establish the prognostic indicators for neurologic outcome and survival. Multicenter prospective studies with more cases are necessary to determine the prognostic factors.

Frequency of Pathogenic Germline Variants in Cancer-Susceptibility Genes in Patients With Osteosarcoma

Importance

Osteosarcoma, the most common malignant bone tumor in children and adolescents, occurs in a high number of cancer predisposition syndromes that are defined by highly penetrant germline mutations. The germline genetic susceptibility to osteosarcoma outside of familial cancer syndromes remains unclear.

Objective

To investigate the germline genetic architecture of 1244 patients with osteosarcoma.

Design, Setting, and Participants

Whole-exome sequencing (n = 1104) or targeted sequencing (n = 140) of the DNA of 1244 patients with osteosarcoma from 10 participating international centers or studies was conducted from April 21, 2014, to September 1, 2017. The results were compared with the DNA of 1062 individuals without cancer assembled internally from 4 participating studies who underwent comparable whole-exome sequencing and 27 173 individuals of non-Finnish European ancestry who were identified through the Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) database. In the analysis, 238 high-interest cancer-susceptibility genes were assessed followed by testing of the mutational burden across 736 additional candidate genes. Principal component analyses were used to identify 732 European patients with osteosarcoma and 994 European individuals without cancer, with outliers removed for patient-control group comparisons. Patients were subsequently compared with individuals in the ExAC group. All data were analyzed from June 1, 2017, to July 1, 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The frequency of rare pathogenic or likely pathogenic genetic variants.

Results

Among 1244 patients with osteosarcoma (mean [SD] age at diagnosis, 16 [8.9] years [range, 2-80 years]; 684 patients [55.0%] were male), an analysis restricted to individuals with European ancestry indicated a significantly higher pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant burden in 238 high-interest cancer-susceptibility genes among patients with osteosarcoma compared with the control group (732 vs 994, respectively; P = 1.3 × 10-18). A pathogenic or likely pathogenic cancer-susceptibility gene variant was identified in 281 of 1004 patients with osteosarcoma (28.0%), of which nearly three-quarters had a variant that mapped to an autosomal-dominant gene or a known osteosarcoma-associated cancer predisposition syndrome gene. The frequency of a pathogenic or likely pathogenic cancer-susceptibility gene variant was 128 of 1062 individuals (12.1%) in the control group and 2527 of 27 173 individuals (9.3%) in the ExAC group. A higher than expected frequency of pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants was observed in genes not previously linked to osteosarcoma (eg, CDKN2A, MEN1, VHL, POT1, APC, MSH2, and ATRX) and in the Li-Fraumeni syndrome-associated gene, TP53.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this study, approximately one-fourth of patients with osteosarcoma unselected for family history had a highly penetrant germline mutation requiring additional follow-up analysis and possible genetic counseling with cascade testing.

Primary gastric lymphoma: A report of 16 pediatric cases treated at a single institute and review of the literature

Gastrointestinal tract is the most common extranodal site for childhood non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). However, primary gastric lymphoma (PGL) is very rare. We report our experience with PGL. Between 1972 and 2019, patients with PGL among 1696 NHL cases were evaluated retrospectively. Patient characteristics, treatments, and survival rates were recorded. We also reviewed the cases reported in literature. There were 16 PGL (11 males, five females) cases with a median age of 10 years. Most frequent complaints, similarly to the literature, were pain and vomiting. Hematemesis/melena and anemia were present in 20% of patients. Most common tumor location was antrum. Histopathological subtypes were Burkitt and non-Burkitt B-cell lymphoma in 43.75% and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) in 6.25% of cases while mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) and low-grade lymphomas constitute 15.3% of cases reported in the literature. In our series, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) was analyzed in only the case with MZL and found to be positive. However, H. pylori positivity was reported in 75% of the cases in the literature. H. pylori eradication, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy were applied in one, 14, and five patients. Subtotal gastrectomy with gastroduodenostomy/jejunostomy was performed in three patients. Gastrojejunostomy was done without tumor resection in two patients. Nine patients lived without disease for a median of 59 (12-252) months. Five-year EFS and OS were 69.6% and 64.3%, respectively. PGL constitutes 0.94% of our NHL cases. Interestingly, most of the cases in the literature were from Turkey. While adult PGL is mostly MALT lymphoma, most pediatric cases had high-grade histopathology. Although surgery and radiotherapy were applied earlier, chemotherapy alone is sufficient.

Bilateral Wilms tumors: Treatment results from a single center

Aydın B, Akyüz C, Yalçın B, Ekinci S, Oğuz B, Akçören Z, Yıldız F, Varan A, Kurucu N, Büyükpamukçu M, Kutluk T. Bilateral Wilms tumors: Treatment results from a single center. Turk J Pediatr 2019; 61: 44-51. The management of bilateral Wilms tumor (BWT) is challenging, particularly due to its presentation at a younger age, rarity, and difficulty for treatment decisions and surgical evaluation comparing to unilateral WT. In this study, the outcome of BWT patients from a single center who were treated by the Turkish Pediatric Oncology Group (TPOG) Wilms Tumor Regimen were retrospectively reviewed. From 1990 to 2016, 30 patients with synchronous BWT were treated with a preoperative chemotherapy of vincristine and actinomycin-D (VA). Chemotherapy was continued until safe nephron sparing surgery (NSS) could be performed for as long as radiological tumor response continued; otherwise, the chemotherapy was intensified by adding doxorubicin (D) alternating with VA every 6 weeks. The median followup of patients was 59 months (4-297 months). The median duration of preoperative chemotherapy was 81 days and ranged between 14 days and 198 days. Preoperative chemotherapy was modified in seven patients (23%) to the VAD regimen. Twenty-two patients (73%) had a radical nephrectomy on the larger tumor and NSS on the contralateral kidney, and 6 patients (20%) had bilateral NSS. Postoperative tumor stages for stage I, II and III were 60%, 22% and 14%, respectively. The 5-year event free survival (EFS) rates were 100%, 90% and 51% for stages I, II and III (p=0.02), respectively. Unfavorable histology and nephrogenic rests were reported in 20% and 20% of patients, respectively. The 5-year overall survival (OS) and EFS rates were 50% and 25%, respectively, in patients with anaplasia, while the same rates were 96% and 96% in patients with favorable histology tumors (p=0.05 and p < 0.001). The 10-year EFS and OS rates for all patients were 82% and 86%, respectively. Our results are comparable with the literature. VA is effective as initial preoperative treatment of BWT and allows for safe resection.

Abstract 4871: Whole-exome sequencing identifies a high frequency of germline deleterious variants in cancer predisposition genes in individuals with osteosarcoma

In children and adolescents, osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant bone tumor. OS occurs in certain cancer predisposition syndromes at a higher than expected frequency. However, outside of these rare syndromes, OS is significantly more common and its genetic etiology remains poorly understood. We conducted an evaluation of rare exonic variants in 545 unselected OS cases compared with 1061 cancer-free controls using whole-exome sequencing of blood or buccal cell DNA to estimate the prevalence and burden of rare deleterious germline variants.

We assessed potentially pathogenic rare variants in 126 established cancer predisposing genes (CPG) and known somatically mutated genes. We also surveyed the exome for genes with a higher burden of rare variants in 342 EUR cases with 994 EUR controls sequenced at the same time. Rare genetic variants, defined by a MAF &lt;0.01 in 1000G, ESP or ExAC, that passed quality control filters were classified based on well-annotated databases (IARC-TP53, Telomerase Database, ARUP, BIC, Insight and COSMIC-hotspots), variant databases (e.g. Clinvar, HGMD and LOVD), and in silico predictions (Sift, Polyphen, Mutation assessor, MutationTaster, FATHMM and LTR). Rare variants matching known pathogenic variants, or inexact matches at the same residue, in selected well-annotated databases were labeled as putative pathogenic variants. High impact variants (frameshift, stop gain/loss, or known splice sites) not matching a previously identified pathogenic variant in the selected databases were categorized as probably pathogenic. Predictions based solely on in silico predictions were categorized as possibly pathogenic, uncertain or likely benign.

A total of 14.5% of cases had a predicted pathogenic or high impact variant in an autosomal dominant CPG. A significantly higher pathogenic rare variant burden was present in EUR cases compared with EUR controls (Pburden=3.7x10-05). TP53 had the highest prevalence of pathogenic mutations (5% of EUR cases; Pburden=1.05x10-09). CDKN2A, MEN1, MLH1, MUTYH, PALB2 and VHL had a significantly higher rare variant burden in the EUR cases. 7.5% of cases had a predicted pathogenic or probably pathogenic variant in an autosomal recessive CPG (Pburden=5.4x10-03). Additionally, two males had a pathogenic variant in the X-linked genes, DKC1 and GPC3. In total, 21% of cases had a predicted pathogenic or high impact variant in a CPG (Pburden=2.4x10-07). Exome-wide analysis identified two novel genes with significantly higher rare variant burdens in the cases compared to controls.

In conclusion, several CPGs and two novel genes, not previously associated with OS, had an enrichment of rare variants in OS and warrant further follow-up. Our results indicate that a clinically significant fraction of OS cases may harbor one or more mutations worthy of consideration for further investigation and genetic counseling.

Citation Format: Roelof Koster, Bin Zhu, Meredith Yeager, Michael Dean, Matthew Gianferante, Lei Song, Joshua Sampson, NCI DCEG Cancer Genomics Research Laboratory, Julie Gastier-Foster, Richard Gorlick, Silvia Regina Caminada de Toledo, Antonio Petrilli, Ana Patiño-Garcia, Fernando Lecanda, Massimo Serra, Claudia Hattinger, Piero Picci, Katia Scotlandi, Adrienne Flanagan, Roberto Tirabosco, Maria Amary, Nilgün Kurucu, Inci Ergurhan Ilhan, Neriman Sari, Mandy Ballinger, David Thomas, Donald Barkauskas, Belynda Hicks, Margaret Tucker, Neil Caporaso, Robert Hoover, Stephen Chanock, Sharon Savage, Lisa Mirabello. Whole-exome sequencing identifies a high frequency of germline deleterious variants in cancer predisposition genes in individuals with osteosarcoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4871. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4871

Can Burkitt's Lymphoma and Hodgkin's Lymphoma occur in siblings simultaneously?

Familial clustering of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and increased risk of developing disease among the siblings has been reported earlier. Usually familial lymphoma in sibling pairs occurs in the pairs of either non-Hodgkin lymphoma or HL. In the familial HL, same type of human leukocyte antigens (HLA) is responsible in the affected family members. There are also some studies stating "Killer cell immunoglobulin like receptor (KIR)" genotypes can be important in the etiology of familial HL. Here we report two siblings; one with Non-Hodgkin and the other with Hodgkin lymphoma which showed Epstein-Barr virus encoded small RNAs positivity in the tumor tissues. We have also found that their HLA genotypes are same with each other. In addition, we have discussed familial lymphoma pathogenesis and HLA haplotypes.

The role of nitric oxide in Doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity: experimental study

Objective: We evaluated the myocardial damage in rats treated with doxorubicin (DOX) alone and in combination with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors.

Materials and Methods: Twenty-four male Sprague Dawley rats (12 weeks old, weighing 262±18 g) were randomly assigned into 4 groups (n=6). Group I was the control group. In Group II, rats were treated with intraperitoneal (ip) injections of 3 mg/kg DOX once a week for 5 weeks. In Group III, rats received weekly ip injections of 30 mg/kg L-NAME (nonspecific NOS inhibitor) 30 min before DOX injections for 5 weeks. In Group IV, rats received weekly ip injections of 3 mg/kg L-NIL (inducible NOS inhibitor) 30 min before DOX injections for 5 weeks. Rats were weighed 2 times a week. At the end of 6 weeks, hearts were excised and then fixed for light and electron microscopy evaluation and tissue lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde). Blood samples were also obtained for measuring plasma lipid peroxidation.

Results: Weight loss was observed in Group II, Group III, and Group IV. Weight loss was statistically significant in the DOX group. Findings of myocardial damage were significantly higher in animals treated with DOX only than in the control group. Histopathological findings of cardiotoxicity in rats treated with DOX in combination with L-NAME and L-NIL were not significantly different compared with the control group. The level of plasma malondialdehyde in the DOX group (9.3±3.4 µmol/L) was higher than those of all other groups.

Conclusion: Our results showed that DOX cardiotoxicity was significantly decreased when DOX was given with NO synthase inhibitors.

Primary posterior mediastinal Burkitt lymphoma

A 14-year-old boy admitted to our clinic with a 20-day history of fever, cough and respiratory distress. Mediastinal enlargement was observed on chest radiograph. Computed tomography of the chest demonstrated a large posterior mediastinal mass. The histopathological examination of the mass revealed Burkitt's lymphoma. We report this case because primary posterior mediastinal involvement in Burkitt lymphoma is extremely rare in childhood.

Cardiac arrest: an unusual side-effect of intravenous ornidazole

Nitroimidazoles have been used alone or in combination with other antibacterial agents in the treatment of brain abscess. They are associated with certain adverse reactions related primarily to the gastrointestinal tract and central nervous system. But, as far as we know, cardiac arrest due to ornidazole has not been reported in the literature. In this study, we presented a case in which cardiac arrest occurred as an unusual side-effect of intravenous ornidazole administered to a ten-year-old girl suffering from brain abscess.