Luis Castillo

Classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL) is a curable disease. While the estimated 5-year survival exceeds 95% in most pediatric patients, long-term outcomes are threatened by high rates of impending late ...

Hiperplasia nodular regenerativa, Oncología pediátrica, Tumor de Wilms, Nódulos hepáticos, Resonancia magnética

Introduction: Childhood cancer is a small proportion of all cancers but is still a major public health problem. Objective: To describe the 5-year incidence and mortality rates and net survival of childhood cancer in Uruguay. Method: Data on all malignant tumors diagnosed in children aged 0-14 were included for the period 2011-2015, obtained from the National Pediatric Registry of Cancer and from the Ministry of Health Mortality Registry, classified according to the International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC-3). Information on the total population was obtained from national census records. Follow up was made until December 2020. Results: The standardized incidence rate was 128/million children per year. The distribution of the disease was similar to developed countries. The overall mortality rate was 28.2/million, with a net overall survival of 79.6% for the total population. Conclusion: Childhood cancer incidence in Uruguay is similar to developed countries. Progress in diagnosis and care have improved survival immensely, but efforts must continue to keep this trend and ameliorate the outcomes.

Objective: To describe the clinical features and outcomes of COVID-19 infection in cancer patients and evaluate the risk factors associated with severe disease. Materials and methods: An observational retrospective study was performed in Oncosalud-AUNA. We included patients with diagnosis of invasive cancer with a SARS-CoV-2 confirmed infection by RT-PCR assay. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression analysis were performed to evaluate the risk factors associated with severe desease. Results: A total of 36 patients were included. Median age was 61 years old; 36.1% males; 58.4% with ≥1 comorbidity. Breast cancer was the most frequent malignancy. 72% of patients were on anticáncer treatment. All patients were symptomatic. 16.7% were admitted to the ICU and 27.8% of patients died. The severity of disease was: mild, 27.8%; moderate, 33.3%; severe, 22.2%; and critical – ARDS, 16.7%. Patients with severe or critical disease were frequently ˃60 years old, male, in ECOG 2-3 and were receiving treatment with palliative intention. Conclusions: COVID-19 cancer patients were frequently overweight older adults with at least one comorbidity with active treatment and developed typical COVID-19 symptoms. Severe or critical COVID-19 occurred in more than one third of patients. Male patients and those ˃60 years old were at greater risk of developing severe or critical COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Children with cancer in high‐income and low‐income countries often use traditional complementary/alternative medicine (TCAM). With efforts by the World Health Organization and international twinning programs improving access to conventional care for patients with childhood cancer, understanding the global use of TCAM is important because reliance on TCAM may affect time to presentation, adherence, and abandonment of care. In the current study, the authors describe the process and validation of an international survey documenting the use of TCAM among children with cancer.METHODS: The survey was designed to collect information on TCAM use and associated factors through both open‐ended and close‐ended questions. During the period between June 2012 and December 2013, the survey was administered to 300 children and adolescents (or their parents) who were undergoing treatment for cancer at a collaborating institution located in Mexico, Uruguay, and Nicaragua.RESULTS: For the majority of constructs, the survey demonstrated strong test‐retest reliability as evidenced by an intraclass correlation of at least ≥0.79 in each of the participating countries. The survey demonstrated good internal consistency and reliability across countries (α range from. 77 to. 85 for the belief scale; and an α range from. 60 to. 86 for the cause scale) and convergent validity between TCAM beliefs and behavior constructs (adjusted correlation range, 0.35‐0.60).CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study demonstrate the successful development of a cross‐cultural survey that produced results that were reliable and valid. These findings will aid investigators in providing guidelines concerning TCAM, support the development of education and research priorities, and identify variables associated with TCAM that are region‐specific. Cancer 2015;121:1492–1498. © 2014 American Cancer Society.