Initial diagnostic management of pediatric bone tumors.

BACKGROUND: Osteosarcoma (OS) and the Ewing sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT) are the most common primary pediatric bone malignancies. We sought to assess the diagnostic accuracy of initial tumor biopsies in patients with OS or ESFT at a pediatric cancer center. METHODS: All biopsies performed at initial presentation of patients with OS or ESFT at our institution from 2003 to 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. Diagnostic accuracy and incidence of complications were correlated with study variables using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: One hundred forty-two biopsies were performed in 105 patients (median age 13.4years, range: 1.8-23.0), 104 (73.2%) OS and 38 (27.8%) ESFT. Thirty-one (21.8%) were performed on metastatic sites. Eighty-five (76.6%) of 111 primary site biopsies were open procedures, and 26 were percutaneous (23.4%). Primary site biopsies were successful in 94.1% of open and 73.1% of percutaneous procedures. Odds of obtaining a successful diagnostic specimen were 7.8 times higher with open approach (CI: 1.6-36.8). Metastatic site biopsies were successful in 66.7% of percutaneous and 100% of open and thoracoscopic procedures. CONCLUSION: Biopsy of metastatic sites was equal to primary site in obtaining diagnostic material with the added benefit of accurate staging, with few adverse events and high diagnostic yield.

Safety and diagnostic accuracy of tumor biopsies in children with cancer.

BACKGROUND: Tumor biopsies are central to the diagnosis and management of cancer and are critical to efforts in personalized medicine and targeted therapeutics. In the current study, the authors sought to evaluate the safety and accuracy of biopsies in children with cancer. METHODS: All biopsies performed in children at the study institution with a suspected or established diagnosis of cancer from 2003 through 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Patient characteristics and disease-related and procedure-related factors were correlated with procedure-related complications and diagnostic accuracy using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 1073 biopsies were performed in 808 patients. Of 1025 biopsies with adequate follow-up, 79 (7.7%) were associated with an adverse event, 35 (3.4%) of which were minor (grade 1-2) and 32 (3.1%) of which were major (grade 3-4) (grading was performed according to the National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events [version 4.0]). The most common major adverse events were blood transfusion (>10 mL/kg; 24 cases) and infection requiring intravenous antibiotics (6 cases). Eleven deaths (1.4%) occurred within 30 days after the procedure, but the procedure may have contributed to the outcome in only 2 cases. A total of 926 biopsies (90.3%) provided definitive histologic diagnoses. Using multivariable analysis, biopsy site, preprocedure hematocrit level, and body mass index were found to be associated with the risk of postprocedural complications (P<.0001, P<.0001, and P =.0029, respectively). Excisional biopsy and biopsy site were found to be independently associated with obtaining a diagnostic result (P =.0002 and P =.0008, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Tumor biopsies in children with cancer are associated with a low incidence of complications and a high rate of diagnostic accuracy. The predictive factors identified for adverse outcomes may aid in risk assessment and preprocedural counseling.

Aggressive Cunninghamella pneumonia in an adolescent.

Children with hematologic malignancies may be challenged with life-threatening, invasive fungal infections by organisms that would otherwise have a low potential for virulence in healthy hosts. Presented is a case of a 15-year-old adolescent with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia who was receiving steroids and chemotherapy. He developed cough associated with left chest pain with suspicion for fungal pneumonia. He began systemic antifungal therapy, underwent computed tomography of the chest demonstrating a large cavitary lesion (reversed halo sign) in the left lung. Over a 48-hour period the patient clinically deteriorated with worsening pneumonia and required left thoracotomy with nonanatomic pulmonary resection. This case illustrates the aggressive nature of Cunninghamella pneumonia in patients with hematologic malignancies, and the multidisciplinary approach required to have the greatest possible outcome.

Double small bowel intussusception complicating bilateral partial nephrectomies.

An 11.5-month-old male, diagnosed with bilateral Wilms tumor at 10 months of age, received 6 weeks of chemotherapy and subsequently underwent bilateral partial nephrectomies. On postoperative day 5, he had crampy abdominal pain and bilious vomiting. Abdominal ultrasound confirmed the presence of an intussusception in the right lower quadrant. Laparotomy demonstrated two separate areas of small intestinal intussusception located at jejuno-jejunal and ileo-ileal locations. The patient was successfully treated with manual reduction. A high index of suspicion is necessary to diagnose and treat patients with two different points of intussusception.