Biomedical subjects

J Goldwein

Publications and source records attributed to J Goldwein.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1992

Growth in children after bone marrow transplantation for advanced neuroblastoma compared with growth after transplantation for leukemia or aplastic anemia.

The linear growth of 26 children with progressive and advanced neuroblastoma treated with high-dose chemotherapy, total body irradiation, and bone marrow transplantation between 1978 and 1988 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was compared with the growth of 33 children who had transplants for leukemia and of 12 who had transplants for aplastic anemia. The mean growth velocity, expressed as a standard deviation score, for the children who underwent bone marrow transplantation for neuroblastoma was -2.83. This was significantly (p less than 0.005) less than the standard deviation scores for children with transplants for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute nonlymphocytic leukemia, and aplastic anemia, which were -0.98, -0.07, and -1.05, respectively. A 6-year follow-up study of 32 long-term survivors of cancer revealed that the 11 patients with neuroblastoma continued to grow poorly, whereas a comparison group of 21 survivors of bone marrow transplantation for leukemia had essentially normal growth 2 years after the procedure. Major therapeutic differences between the two groups included the doses of local radiotherapy and the type and number of cytotoxic agents used. In comparison with the relatively mild growth-inhibiting effects of preparative regimens for leukemia and aplastic anemia, the very intensive preparative regimens used in patients with neuroblastoma have significant negative effects on growth.

Anemia, Aplastic↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A multi-institutional retrospective study of intracranial ependymoma in children: identification of risk factors.

PURPOSE: The goal of this multi-institutional retrospective study of children with intracranial ependymoma was to identify risk factors associated with unfavorable overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Clinical data, including demographics, tumor location, spread, histology, details of surgery, radiation treatment, and chemotherapy were collected. Clinical characteristics and univariate and multivariate analyses of risk factors for OS and EFS are presented. RESULTS: Eleven U.S. institutions contributed 83 patients treated from 1987 to 1991. The OS at 5 and 7 years was 57% and 46%, and EFS at 5 and 7 years was 42% and 33%. Patients 3 years of age or younger differed from the older group by more common infratentorial location, less common gross total resection (GTR), and postoperative use of chemotherapy rather than radiation. This younger group of patients had worse survival (P < 0.01) than the older age group. Other than young age, less than GTR and World Health Organization (WHO) II grade 3 histology were significant adverse risk factors for EFS in univariate and multivariate analyses. OS shared the same adverse risk factors except for histology in multivariate analysis, which was only of borderline significance (P = 0.05). Progression at the original tumor location, present in 89% of patients, was the major pattern of tumor recurrence. Adjuvant chemotherapy in the group older than 3 years or craniospinal radiation in M0 patients did not significantly change EFS. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse outcome in childhood intracranial ependymoma is related to age (3 years or younger), histology (grade 3), and degree of surgical resection (less than GTR). New approaches, particularly for local tumor control in younger patients, are needed to improve survival.

Brain Neoplasms↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic factors in childhood ependymomas.

Between 1975 and 1989, 45 children with newly diagnosed intracranial ependymomas were treated at the authors' institution. Patients were managed with aggressive surgical resection, followed by postoperative CT or MRI scans to evaluate the extent of resection. Most patients received involved-field radiation therapy, however 10 were treated with craniospinal axis irradiation for disseminated disease, or malignant histology. Beginning in 1983, all patients were also treated with adjuvant chemotherapy with 1-(2-chloroethyl)-3-cyclohexyl-1-nitrosourea (CCNU), vincristine, and cisplatinum. Four patients died in the immediate postoperative period for an operative mortality of 8.8%. The 5-year progression-free survival for the remaining 41 patients was 36%. Tumor location had little effect on survival, as the 5-year PFS for supratentorial tumors was 26%, compared with 40% for the posterior fossa lesions (ns). Neither histologic degree of malignancy, nor use of adjuvant chemotherapy impacted on survival. The extent of surgical resection, as determined by operative reports and postoperative imaging studies, was a major determinant of outcome, as patients with total or near-total resections experienced a 5-year PFS of 60%, compared with 21% for children with partial resection or biopsy (p less than 0.01). It is concluded that the use of adjuvant chemotherapy with CCNU, vincristine, and cisplatinum does not improve progression-free survival in childhood ependymoma, and that the extent of surgical resection is a major determinant of outcome in this disease.

Adolescent↗