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INTRODUCTION: Relapse is not common in patients with acute leukemia in childhood, however it is a serious complication with high mortality rate. We aimed to predict relapse among pediatric acute leukemia patients in remission by using complete blood parameters which are used routinely in clinical practice. METHODS: In all,279 children diagnosed with acute leukemia over a 20-year period were retrospectively reviewed. Fourty two children relapsed and 37 children non-relapsed acute leukemia cases, all of whose data were available, were included in the study. Blood count parameters and physical examination findings at the time of diagnosis and during the follow-up were evaluated retrospectively in all patients. RESULTS: In the relapse group;children were diagnosed with B-cell ALL(n=24), T-cell ALL(n=10), and AML(n=8). In non- relapse group;children were diagnosed with B-cell ALL(n=26), T-cell (n=10) and AML(n=1).Thrombocytopenia was observed in 24 patients for the relapse group, compared to nine children in non- relapse group. After remission, the risk of relapse was significantly higher in patients with thrombocytopenia (p= 0.003) than in patients without thrombocytopenia among both groups. During the remission period, relapse was observed in all patients with thrombocytopenia lasting for an average of 3.86 weeks. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Thrombocytopenia during the remission period of pediatric acute leukemia patients can be explained primarily by the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs used in treatment and possible infections on the bone marrow. We demonstrated that the presence of thrombocytopenia which develops after the remission period and lasts longer than three weeks can be used as an easy-to-access blood parameter in the prediction of relapse.

Aim:A brief resolved unexplained event (BRUE) is characterized by sudden alterations in an infant’s breathing, color, tone, or responsiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the necessity of electroencephalography (EEG) in high-risk BRUE cases.Materials and Methods:Fifty-one patients’ cases were analyzed retrospectively. All of these patients were younger than 1 month so considered to be a high-risk group. The gestational week, the age of the patient, the duration of the event, the conditions related to the event, whether or not any intervention was needed, the type of intervention if done, if the event recurred, the number of recurrences, the state of consciousness during the event, respiratory pattern, muscle tone, sleeping position, suspicion of trauma, use of medication by mother and/or baby and smoking exposure were evaluated in detail.Results:The mean age of the patients was 15.74±14.96 days, 31 (60.78%) were male and 20 (39.21%) were female. The mean gestational age was 37.64±2.35 weeks. The neurological examinations of the patients were evaluated as normal. EEG was performed in 36 (70.58%) of the 51 patients and only one patient had sharp waves in the left hemisphere central region. In 11 patients hospitalized with a preliminary diagnosis of BRUE, final diagnoses were found as congenital pyloric stenosis, dehydration, fetal myocarditis, patent ductus arteriosus, lower respiratory tract infection and gastroesophageal reflux.Conclusion:It would be more appropriate to plan the tests to be carried out in the high-risk BRUE group by evaluating many factors such as recurrence of the event, family history, and neurological examination findings. As a result, even in the high-risk BRUE group, it would be cost effective to perform an EEG if only the clinical cues are strongly suggestive for the diagnosis of epilepsy.