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Effectiveness and Safety of Clofarabine Monotherapy or Combination Treatment in Relapsed/Refractory Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Pragmatic, Non-interventional Study in Korea

Purpose

Effectiveness and safety of clofarabine (one of the treatment mainstays in pediatric patients with relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL]) was assessed in Korean pediatric patients with ALL to facilitate conditional coverage with evidence development.

Materials and Methods

In this multicenter, prospective, observational study, patients receiving clofarabine as mono/combination therapy were followed up every 4–6 weeks for 6 months or until hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Response rates, survival outcomes, and adverse events were assessed.

Results

Sixty patients (2–26 years old; 65% B-cell ALL, received prior ≥ 2 regimen, 68.3% refractory to previous regimen) were enrolled and treated with at least one dose of clofarabine; of whom 26 (43.3%) completed 6 months of follow-up after the last dose of clofarabine. Fifty-eight patients (96.7%) received clofarabine combination therapy. Overall remission rate (complete remission [CR] or CR without platelet recovery [CRp]) was 45.0% (27/60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 32.4 to 57.6) and the overall response rate (CR, CRp, or partial remission [PR]) was 46.7% (28/60; 95% CI, 34.0 to 59.3), with 11 (18.3%), 16 (26.7%), and one (1.7%) patients achieving CR, CRp, and PR, respectively. The median time to remission was 5.1 weeks (95% CI, 4.7 to 6.1). Median duration of remission was 16.6 weeks (range, 2.0 to 167.6 weeks). Sixteen patients (26.7%) proceeded to HSCT. There were 24 deaths; 14 due to treatment-emergent adverse events.

Conclusion

Remission with clofarabine was observed in approximately half of the study patients who had overall expected safety profile; however, there was no favorable long-term survival outcome in this study.

Effects of the application of therapeutic massage in children with cancer: a systematic review

Objective:

to learn about the effects of the use of therapeutic massage in children with cancer.

Method:

systematic review of controlled clinical trials The search was conducted in November 2014 in the following databases: Pubmed, CSIC, Dialnet, Scopus, Cochrane and PEDro. Inclusion criteria were: clinical trials, published in English or Spanish, analyzing the effects of massage on the different stages and types of childhood cancer (between 1 and 18 years old).

Results:

of 1007 articles found, 7 met the inclusion criteria. Their authors use different massage techniques (Swedish massage, effleurage, petrissage, frictions, pressures), obtaining benefits in the symptoms present during the illness (decrease of pain, nausea, stress, anxiety and increase of white blood cells and neutrophils).

Conclusion:

therapeutic massage improves the symptoms of children with cancer, but there is a need for more research that may support the effects attributed to it.