Salivary parameters and their correlation with neutrophil counts in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is known to render children immuno-deficient. A concomitant suppression of local defence mechanisms, such as saliva may further aggravate the adverse consequences of chemotherapy. The present study was conducted to evaluate alterations in salivary flow rate, pH and buffering capacity and to correlate these parameters with Absolute Neutrophil Counts (ANC). METHODS: A cohort of 43 patients, aged 3-12 years were evaluated for the aforementioned parameters at baseline, post-induction and post-consolidation phases. Salivary collection was done and ANC was measured from routine haematological reports. RESULTS: A decrease in the salivary parameters was observed at the end of Induction phase as compared to baseline, with a statistically significant decrease in unstimulated salivary flow rates (p < 0.01). Statistically significant positive correlations were found between ANC and salivary flow rate (p = 0.005), pH (p < 0.00) and buffering capacity (p < 0.00). On testing the significance of these correlations, all the values for these parameters were found to be statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Salivary parameters showed derangements over the phases of chemotherapy, with maximum decrease at the end of induction phase. The positive correlations of salivary parameters with ANC of the subjects may be considered indicative of a concomitant immunological compromise in these children.

Radioactive microspheres in therapeutics.

Microspheres as a drug delivery system hold great promise in reaching the goal of controlled drug delivery as well as site specific delivery. In the last few decades, scientific and technological advancements have been made in the research and development of radiolabeled microspheres. These are used successfully for the treatment of various cancers and tumors. Since response to chemotherapy and external radiotherapy is not so effective and hazardous too, so an alternative to this is internal radiation therapy. These radiolabeled microspheres are very stable and have a proven efficacy in the field of primary as well as metastatic cancers. Radioactive microspheres can be selectively targeted to various tumors without undue radiation to the nontumorous tissues. The radioactive microspheres are injected to halt tumor growth via the blood supply, thereby enabling surgical removal once the tumor size decreases. This review provides an outlook to various aspects of radioactive microspheres and their role in treatment of various tumors and cancers.