Special Issue "Late Effects in Childhood Cancer Survivors"

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. John T. Lucas Jr
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Radiation Oncology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105-3678, USA
Interests: acute and late effects of therapy following treatment for childhood cancer; imaging as a biomarker for treatment-related injury; radiogenomics; clinical trial design/methodology; central nervous system cancer; ocular radiation oncology; pediatric radiation oncology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to welcome you to contribute to this Special Issue on therapy-related morbidity in childhood cancer survivors. The literature to this point has been largely cross-sectional, although hypothesis-driven research, intervention-focused assessments, and the integration of genomics for prediction are becoming more commonplace. It is these latter areas that I would like to focus on as I believe they advance both our understanding of treatment-related late effects and improve our ability to risk stratify, treat, and manage childhood cancer survivors. Manuscripts should refer to key articles in the discipline, but then focus the discussion of the information gleaned from these historical references on how it is being used in current longitudinal studies, intervention-based trials, and basic and translational research.

I would envision >5 subject headings/topics for an in-depth review:

- Cardiovascular health

- Subsequent malignancies

- Endocrinopathies and metabolic complications

- Neurocognitive risk factors, interventions, and outcomes

- Musculoskeletal complications

We have a substantial amount of leeway on this broad topic, and as a result, I would like to invite your feedback on personal areas of special interest prior to assigning topics.

Dr. John T. Lucas Jr
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • childhood cancer
  • late effects
  • imaging
  • genomics
  • clinical trials

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Risk of Benign and Malignant Thyroid Disorders in Subjects Treated for Paediatric/Adolescent Neoplasia: Role of Morphological and Functional Screening
Children 2021, 8(9), 767; https://doi.org/10.3390/children8090767 - 31 Aug 2021
Abstract
Background: Patients treated for paediatric/adolescent (P/A) neoplasia have a high incidence of both benign and malignant thyroid diseases. Given the high incidence of sequelae, literature data show a clinical benefit of morpho-functional thyroid screening in paediatric/adolescent cancer survivors and a careful lifetime follow-up. [...] Read more.
Background: Patients treated for paediatric/adolescent (P/A) neoplasia have a high incidence of both benign and malignant thyroid diseases. Given the high incidence of sequelae, literature data show a clinical benefit of morpho-functional thyroid screening in paediatric/adolescent cancer survivors and a careful lifetime follow-up. Patients and methods: The incidence of thyroid alterations was evaluated in a consecutive series of 343 patients treated with chemotherapy (CHE) and radiotherapy (RTE) or only with CHE for P/A tumours between 1976 and 2018 (mean age at time of primary paediatric malignancy 7.8 ± 4.7 years). All patients underwent thyroidal morpho-functional evaluation between 2000 and 2019. Results: 178 patients (51.9%) were treated only with CHE and 165 (48.1%) with CHE+RTE. A functional and/or structural thyroid disease was diagnosed in 147 (42.5%; 24.2% in CHE and 62.4% in CHE+RTE group; p = 0.0001). Of note, 71 (20.7%) patients with no evidence of disease at first evaluation developed a thyroid alteration during the follow-up. Primitive hypothyroidism was diagnosed in 54 patients (15.7%; 11.2% in CHE vs. 20.6% in CHE+RTE group; p = 0.01) and hyperthyroidism in 4. Sixty-three patients developed thyroid nodules (18.4%; 4.0% in CHE and 14.1% in CHE+RTE group; p < 0.001); thyroid cancer was diagnosed in 30 patients (8.7%; 4.5% in CHE and 12.4% in CHE + RTE group; p = 0.007). Conclusions: In patients treated with CHE+RTE, the prevalence of hypothyroidism and nodular pathology, both malignant and benign, were significantly greater than in patients treated with CHE. However, also in the CHE group, the frequency of thyroid disease is not negligible and the pathogenetic mechanisms remain to be clarified. Our data suggest the clinical benefit of morpho-functional thyroid screening in P/A cancer survivors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Late Effects in Childhood Cancer Survivors)
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