Treatment of Pediatric Burkitt Lymphoma in Turkey

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the demographic data and treatment results of children who were diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma and treated according to the Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster-95 (BFM) protocol in a single institution. A total of 48 patients (37 boys, 77%) with a median age of 8 years (range 2 to 16 years) at diagnosis, were evaluated. Primary tumor sites were abdomen (70.8%), head and neck (22.9%), peripheral lymph node (2%), bone (2%), and testis (2%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 78.1±4% and 76.6±6%, respectively. In univariate analysis, hemoglobin level less than 10 g/dL, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) positivity and dialysis requirement at diagnosis were found to be important reverse predictor factors for EFS (P; 0.001, 0.001, 0.004, respectively). In multivariate analysis, hemoglobin level less than 10 g/dL and dialysis at diagnosis were found to be important reverse predictor factors for EFS (P; 0.0001). The EFS of our patients was lower than the values achieved with BFM-95 protocol in other centers. This study provides evidence that low hemoglobin level, CSF positivity and dialysis at diagnosis were important predictor factors for EFS in children with Burkitt lymphoma.

Outcome of pediatric non‐Hodgkin lymphoma in Central America: A report of the Association of Pediatric Hematology Oncology of Central America (AHOPCA)

“…However, in one case interpreted provisionally as a secondary lymphoma, a late relapse could not be ruled out molecularly. Finally, patients with limited‐stage disease had very good outcomes, as reported with most series …”

“…Most of the drugs used to treat non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) are available in low‐ to middle‐income countries (LMICs). However, because of deficient supportive care in these countries, it is a common practice to reduce the dose intensity of protocols used by cooperative groups in high‐income countries . Even with such dose reductions, there are still many treatment‐related deaths in LMICs .…”

Alteration in Characteristics and Outcome of Pediatric Burkitt Lymphoma in Turkey: Single-center Experience

“…According to the literature, the sporadic form is more prevalent in male and older age than the endemic form. We observed that, nowadays, there was a decrease about age and male sex while comparing with the previous studies from our country [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] and GRAB group. We thought that there is a reverse alteration about sex and age by the course of time in Turkey, according to Ogwang et al [9] The primary intra-abdominal presentation is approximately 80% in the sporadic form [8,21,22], while primary jaw presentation is approximately 50% in the endemic form.…”

“…BL constitutes approximately 40% of all childhood non-Hodgkin lymphomas in the United States (US) [8] and our finding (38.6%) is compatible with this. Examining previous studies from the same center and our country [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], the findings showed that the frequency of BL has decreased over time in Turkey.…”

Optimizing outcomes for children with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma in low‐ and middle‐income countries by early correct diagnosis, reducing toxic death and preventing abandonment

“…Most reports from upper middle‐income countries (UMIC), usually regarding patients treated in referral institutions, showed that toxic mortality, especially during remission induction, is higher than in the protocols from major cooperative groups in HIC (Acquatella et al , ; Klumb et al , ; Celkan et al , ). In order to design an effective therapy for Burkitt lymphoma in LMIC, one must weigh the risk of toxic death against that of excess relapse when considering chemotherapy intensification.…”