Surgery remains the keystone of treatment for pancreatic tumors in pediatric age as in adults. The TREP project shows that prospective cooperative studies are feasible even for such very rare tumors as these and may serve as a model for developing international cooperative schemes.

Summary Background Invasive mucormycosis is a rare but frequently fatal fungal disease. The acute and rapidly progressive evolution causes unfavourable outcome in 22%‐59% of patients and its treatment represents a clinical challenge, especially in immunocompromised patients. Current data in paediatric oncological patients are limited. Objectives The infection Working Group of the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP) analysed the episodes of invasive mucormycosis occurred between 2009 and 2016. Patients Fifteen cases of proven mucormycosis (male/female 8/7; median age 14.1 years, range 7.7‐18.6) were reported after chemotherapy for acute leukaemia and lymphoma (12) and allogeneic stem cell transplantation (3). The aetiology was Rhizopus oryzae 4, Lichtheimia corymbifera 3 and Mucor spp. 8. Results Paranasal sinus was the primary site of infection in 14/15 patients combined with orbital involvement (9), central nervous system (8), lung (4), thyroid gland and kidney (1). All patients received liposomal Amphotericin B (L‐AmB) (3‐10 mg/kg), with surgical debridement in 14/15 cases. Eleven patients received maintenance treatment with posaconazole (9) or isavuconazole (2). Eight out of fifteen patients (53.3%) died, after 3‐6 months. Conclusions Mucormycosis involved mainly the sinu‐orbital site and affected children >10 years. Despite aggressive treatment with high‐dose L‐AmB and timely surgical debridement, the mortality rate remains still high.

We have developed an integrated microfluidic platform for producing 2-[(18)F]-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose ((18)F-FDG) in continuous flow from a single bolus of radioactive isotope solution, with constant product yields achieved throughout the operation that were comparable to those reported for commercially available vessel-based synthesisers (40-80%). The system would allow researchers to obtain radiopharmaceuticals in a dose-on-demand setting within a few minutes. The flexible architecture of the platform, based on a modular design, can potentially be applied to the synthesis of other radiotracers that require a two-step synthetic approach, and may be adaptable to more complex synthetic routes by implementing additional modules. It can therefore be employed for standard synthesis protocols as well as for research and development of new radiopharmaceuticals.

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