The Italian Consensus Conference on the role of rehabilitation for children and adolescents with leukemia, central nervous system tumors, and bone cancer, part 2: general principles for the rehabilitation treatment of motor function impairments.

In Italy, 1400 children and 800 adolescents are diagnosed with cancer every year. About 80% of them can be cured but are at high risk of experiencing severe side effects, many of which respond to rehabilitation treatment. Due to the paucity of literature on this topic, the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology organized a Consensus Conference on the role of rehabilitation of motor impairments in children/adolescents affected by leukemia, central nervous system tumors, and bone cancer to state recommendations to improve clinical practice. This paper includes the consensus on the rehabilitation of children and adolescents with these cancers.

The Italian consensus conference on the role of rehabilitation for children and adolescents with leukemia, central nervous system, and bone tumors, part 1: Review of the conference and presentation of consensus statements on rehabilitative evaluation of motor aspects.

Because of increasing survival rates in pediatric oncology, attention is focusing on cancer and its treatment-related side effects. Rehabilitation may reduce their impact. However, the literature does not provide strong evidence regarding rehabilitation pathways. Therefore, the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology organized a consensus conference on the role of rehabilitation of motor impairments in children/adolescents affected by leukemia, central nervous system, and bone tumors to define recommendations for daily practice. The grading of recommendation assessment, developing and evaluation (GRADE) method was used in order to formulate questions, select outcomes, evaluate evidence, and create recommendations. This paper includes the results on the rehabilitation assessment.