Search

Objective: Plastic bronchitis (PB) is a rare disease characterized by obstruction of the airway by fibrinous mucus plugs. The etiology can be idiopathic or secondary to systematic diseases such as congenital heart diseases. Definitive diagnosis is made by pathological examination of the sputum or bronchial sample taken by bronchoscopy. In this study, the clinical status and treatment status of patients with PB were evaluated. Materials and Methods: Medical records of the patients diagnosed as PB were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, clinical symptoms, radiology, bronchoscopic findings, and pathology results were documented. Results: Six patients with PB were included in this study (female:male, 2:4). The median age of the diagnosis was 45 months. The most common symptoms are persistent wet cough and shortness of breath. The duration of symptoms ranged from 30 to 90 days. Atelectasis was the most common radiological finding. Diagnosis was made with pathological examination of the mucus in all patients. All of the patients were treated with bronchoscopic removal of the mucus, and 4 patients required oral prednisolone therapy. Symptoms and radiological findings resolved completely in all patients. Conclusion: Although PB is a rare disease, it should be kept in mind in relation to patients with persistent radiological and clinical respiratory symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemotherapy affects the diet and feeding habits of children with cancer. They experience side effects such as vomiting, diarrhea and constipation. Feeding disorders occur during treatment period of chronic illnesses such as during the chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The purpose of this study was to determine their feeding habits of the children with cancer. We applied a questionnaire concerning the feeding habits of 21 patients with cancer who received chemotherapy. The questionnaire included where, how, how often and how much children were fed. Nine (42.9%) female patients and 12 (57.1%) male patients participated in the survey. Six (28.6%) lymphomas, 5 (23.8%) sarcomas, 3 (14.3%) kidney tumors, 3 (14.3%) neuroblastomas, 2 (9.5%) brain tumors, 1 (4.8%) acute leukemia and 1 (4.8%) bone tumor were diagnosed. There was a positive statistically significant relationship between regular vegetable consumption and the measurement of body mass indexes (r=-0.601; p<0.05). Fast food consumption at least once a week was inversely correlated with the measurements of weight and height of the patients (r=0.683; p<0.05). Body mass index was found to decrease during the acute gastroenteritis periods (r=-0.470; p<0.05). There was a positive statistically significant relationship between constipation periods and the skinfold thickness measurements (r=0.714; p<0.05). Healthy feeding is especially important for every child in this patient group. Fast food consumption is one of the factors that negatively affects the health, which adversely affects the patients in the treatment process even more adversely. In the literature, there is no protocol established for the feeding of children with cancer and no guideline has been developed as a result of these studies. Our study is planned to determine this need and it might shed light on the literature with the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study is to analyze the response and survival rate of pediatric Hodgkin's disease and investigate the parameters influencing the survival. Material and Method: Forty-three Hodgkin's disease (HD) patients who were treated in our Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Department between 1996-2011 were retrospectively analyzed. Twenty-three male and 20 female patients who were younger than 18 year newly diagnosed and untreated were included in the study. Results: The median age was nine years five months; one patient had stage I, 21 patients had stage II, 12 patients had stage III and nine patients had stage IV disease. Nineteen patients were in early stage disease and 24 patients were in advanced stage disease. The most common histological subtype was nodular sclerosis (22 patients). Eighteen of the patients had B symptoms. Hemoglobin levels, leukocyte count, erythrocyte sedimentation rates, serum copper, fibrinogen, lactic dehydrogenase, ferritin and haptoglobin levels were analyzed for response to treatment. Thirty-eight patients are alive, seven patients relapsed and five patients died. The median follow-up period was seven years four months. Mean overall survival was 12.66±0.70 years. Five-year overall survival was 85.99%. Mean overall survival for early stages was 13.10±0.81 years, and 12.56±0.96 years for late stages. Conclusions: Bulky disease was bad prognostic factor for OS. Female sex, bulky disease and nodular sclerosis histological subtype were adverse prognostic factors for disease free survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]