Should nitrous oxide ever be used in oncology patients receiving methotrexate therapy?

Impact of Propofol Exposure on Neurocognitive Outcomes in Children With High-Risk B ALL: A Children's Oncology Group Study

PURPOSE

Many children treated for ALL develop long-term neurocognitive impairments. Increased risk of these impairments is associated with treatment and demographic factors. Exposure to anesthesia is an additional possible risk factor. This study evaluated the impact of cumulative exposure to anesthesia on neurocognitive outcomes among a multicenter cohort of children with ALL.

METHODS

This study was embedded in AALL1131, a Children's Oncology Group phase III trial for patients with high-risk B-ALL. In consenting patients age 6-12 years, prospective uniform assessments of neurocognitive function were performed during and at 1 year after completion of therapy. Exposure to all episodes of anesthetic agents was abstracted. Multivariable linear regression models determined associations of cumulative anesthetic agents with the primary neurocognitive outcome reaction time/processing speed (age-normed) at 1 year off therapy, adjusting for baseline neurocognitive score, age, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance status (as a proxy for socioeconomic status), and leukemia risk group.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty-four children, 76 (52.8%) males, mean age of 9.1 (min-max, 6.0-12.0) years at diagnosis, underwent a median of 27 anesthetic episodes (min-max, 1-37). Almost all patients were exposed to propofol (140/144, 97.2%), with a mean cumulative dose of 112.3 mg/kg. One year after therapy, the proportion of children with impairment (Z-score ≤-1.5) was significantly higher compared with a normative sample. In covariate-adjusted multivariable analysis, cumulative exposure to propofol was associated with a 0.05 Z-score decrease in reaction time/processing speed per each 10 mg/kg propofol exposure (P = .03).

CONCLUSION

In a multicenter and uniformly treated cohort of children with B-ALL, cumulative exposure to propofol was an independent risk factor for impairment in reaction time/processing speed 1 year after therapy. Anesthesia exposure is a modifiable risk, and opportunities to minimize propofol use should be considered.

Pain in pediatric oncology-A Swedish nationwide follow-up study among nurses and physicians

To examine nurses' and physicians' assessments of pain in children with cancer, and to identify the methods in use to diagnose, evaluate, and treat pain. In addition, to examine whether/how the healthcare professionals' assessment and management of pain has changed compared to 1995 and identify the needs for training. The study has a descriptive and comparative design. 363 nurses and physicians working with children with cancer in Sweden were invited to participate in April 2017. Participants answered an updated version of a questionnaire used in 1995 by Ljungman et al. focusing on the healthcare professionals' experience of pain among their patients, their pain treatment strategies, and need for training. 120 nurses and 65 physicians participated. Fifty percent of nurses and 55% of physicians answered that moderate-to-severe pain was experienced often or very often by children with cancer. Methods recommended in international guidelines to diagnose, evaluate, and treat pain were generally followed. Compared with findings from 1995 by Ljungman et al., nurses, and physicians assessed that moderate-to-severe pain was seen more often. The greatest need for training was reported for pharmacology, different routes for administration of opioids, treatment with nitrous oxide, and nonpharmacological interventions. Nurses and physicians assessed that moderate-to-severe pain is often present in children with cancer. More time to treat pain in the department and training in certain areas seem to be needed to improve pain management.

Inhalation anesthesia without any intravenous management for pediatric proton beam therapy

INTRODUCTION

Proton beam therapy is an oncological treatment, argued to be an appropriate tumor irradiation technique for childhood solid tumors. Due to its duration and the need for immobility, many children require anesthesia for proton therapy sessions. As not many centers in the world provide this therapy, there is little published research about pediatric anesthesia for these cases, and the available data suggest a preference for intravenous anesthesia or combined intravenous and inhalation anesthesia. We conducted this study with the aim of describing and analyzing the inhalation anesthetic management of children undergoing proton therapy at our medical center, comparing our results with studies that have followed different anesthetic protocols.

METHODS

We reviewed two major databases (Web of Science and Scopus) to find papers that had addressed, to date, anesthesia for pediatric proton therapy. To describe our anesthetic management, we included all pediatric patients treated with proton therapy under anesthesia in our center between June 2020 and August 2021. The characteristics of the patients, their diagnoses, treatments, airway management, drugs administered, duration of induction, and recovery from anesthesia, and adverse effects where all recorded. All anesthesiologists followed a strict anesthetic protocol based only on inhalational anesthesia with sevoflurane delivered via laryngeal mask airway.

RESULTS

Of the total of 1082 papers found in Web of Science and Scopus on pediatric proton therapy, 11 have addressed its anesthetic management, using intravenous or combined intravenous and inhalation anesthesia. Between June 2020 and August 2021, 31 children were anesthetized in our center to receive proton therapy under inhalational anesthesia (total number of sessions: 873). The mean anesthesia induction time was 4.1 min (SD = 0.7, 95% CI [3.9, 4.4]). The mean anesthesia recovery time was 13.8 min (SD = 4.1, 95% CI [12.3, 15.3]). The percentage of non-serious adverse effects was 0.7% (Clopper-Pearson 95% CI [0.3, 1.5]). The percentage of serious adverse effects was 0.1% (Clopper-Pearson 95% CI [0, 0.6]), without statistically significant difference with other published works with different anesthetic approaches.

CONCLUSION

Inhalation anesthesia without any intravenous management for pediatric proton therapy is, in our experience, an effective technique with a complication rate similar to other anesthetic approaches.

Perioperative considerations in patients with chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment: a narrative review

Patients with cancer may suffer from a decline in their cognitive function after various cancer therapies, including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, and in some cases, this decline in cognitive function persists even years after completion of treatment. Chemobrain or chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment, a well-established clinical syndrome, has become an increasing concern as the number of successfully treated cancer patients has increased significantly. Chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment can originate from direct neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress, resulting in alterations in grey matter volume, white matter integrity, and brain connectivity. Surgery has been associated with exacerbating the inflammatory response associated with chemotherapy and predisposes patients to develop postoperative cognitive dysfunction. As the proportion of patients living longer after these therapies increases, the magnitude of impact and growing concern of post-treatment cognitive dysfunction in these patients has also come to the fore. We review the clinical presentation, potential mechanisms, predisposing factors, diagnostic methods, neuropsychological testing, and imaging findings of chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment and its intersection with postoperative cognitive dysfunction.