Clinical Factors, Management, and Outcomes of Patients Under 18 Years Old With Central Nervous System Tumors: Single-center Experience in Peru.

Few reports on clinical factors, treatment, and survival in children and adolescents with Central nervous system tumors in low-income and middle-income countries in Latin America exist. We retrospectively reviewed such data in all cases of patients younger than 18 years with brain tumors diagnosed in a single tertiary care center in Peru from 2007 through 2017. Variables were analyzed for association with overall survival and event-free survival by using the Kaplan-Meier method and the Cox hazards ratio regression. Seventy-five patients' data were analyzed (40 boys, 35 girls; mean age=7.7 y). The main clinical symptoms were headache, vomiting, difficulty walking, and visual disturbances. The most frequent clinical signs were hydrocephalus, cerebellar signs, visual abnormalities, and focal motor signs. The median time to diagnosis was 12 weeks. Tumor resection was performed in 68 patients, and 37 patients received postoperative radiotherapy. The most frequent histologic subtypes were low-grade gliomas and medulloblastomas. Overall survival rates at 1 and 5 years of disease were 78% (CI 95%, 0.67 to 0.86) and 74% (CI 95%, 0.62 to 0.82), respectively, and the 5-year event-free survival rate was 62% (CI 95%, 0.47 to 0.73). Although diagnosis occurred late in our cohort, the survival rate was higher than that in other Latin American countries.

Association of Cancer Diagnosis and Therapeutic Stage With Mortality in Pediatric Patients With COVID-19, Prospective Multicenter Cohort Study From Latin America.

Background: Children with cancer are at risk of critical disease and mortality from COVID-19 infection. In this study, we describe the clinical characteristics of pediatric patients with cancer and COVID-19 from multiple Latin American centers and risk factors associated with mortality in this population. Methods: This study is a multicenter, prospective cohort study conducted at 12 hospitals from 6 Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Peru) from April to November 2021. Patients younger than 14 years of age that had an oncological diagnosis and COVID-19 or multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) who were treated in the inpatient setting were included. The primary exposure was the diagnosis and treatment status, and the primary outcome was mortality. We defined "new diagnosis" as patients with no previous diagnosis of cancer, "established diagnosis" as patients with cancer and ongoing treatment and "relapse" as patients with cancer and ongoing treatment that had a prior cancer-free period. A frequentist analysis was performed including a multivariate logistic regression for mortality. Results: Two hundred and ten patients were included in the study; 30 (14%) died during the study period and 67% of patients who died were admitted to critical care. Demographics were similar in survivors and non-survivors. Patients with low weight for age (<-2SD) had higher mortality (28 vs. 3%, p = 0.019). There was statistically significant difference of mortality between patients with new diagnosis (36.7%), established diagnosis (1.4%) and relapse (60%), (p <0.001). Most patients had hematological cancers (69%) and they had higher mortality (18%) compared to solid tumors (6%, p= 0.032). Patients with concomitant bacterial infections had higher mortality (40%, p = 0.001). MIS-C, respiratory distress, cardiovascular symptoms, altered mental status and acute kidney injury on admission were associated with higher mortality. Acidosis, hypoxemia, lymphocytosis, severe neutropenia, anemia and thrombocytopenia on admission were also associated with mortality. A multivariate logistic regression showed risk factors associated with mortality: concomitant bacterial infection OR 3 95%CI (1.1-8.5), respiratory symptoms OR 5.7 95%CI (1.7-19.4), cardiovascular OR 5.2 95%CI (1.2-14.2), new cancer diagnosis OR 12 95%CI (1.3-102) and relapse OR 25 95%CI (2.9-214). Conclusion: Our study shows that pediatric patients with new onset diagnosis of cancer and patients with relapse have higher odds of all-cause mortality in the setting of COVID-19. This information would help develop an early identification of patients with cancer and COVID-19 with higher risk of mortality.