Iranian Journal of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology

BACKGROUND: Iran is one of the countries located on the "thalassemia belt" and a thalassemia prevention program was approved in our country in 1995. Many different researchers have studied the success of this program with no unanimous findings. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed using PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases in Farsi and English languages for relevant articles published up to March 2015. RESULTS: A total of 46 articles regarding thalassemia prevention were identified...

BACKGROUND: B cells play an important role in the immune system due to production of the immunoglobulin and secreting several cytokines. It has been shown that B cells produced successfully in the presence of stem cell factor (SCF) and Flt3 ligand (Flt3L). IL2, IL7, and IL15 cytokines as the γc-common family have an essential role in lymphopoiesis. Common γ chain cytokines may support either synergistically or in an additive manner to B cell proliferative activity. Thus, the present study focused specifically on IL2, IL7, and IL15 cytokines that may play a critical role in B cell proliferation in cord blood...

BACKGROUND: Beta-thalassemia patients receive blood products from blood transfusion centers repeatedly. Blood transfusion can transmit Cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Toxoplasma gondii. The aim of this study was serological evaluation of these two infectious agents in thalassemia patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing was performed to detect IgM and IgG antibodies against CMV and Toxoplasma gondii in 96 thalassemia patients (under 18 years) and 144 healthy people...

BACKGROUND: Thalassemia patients that are conventionally treated by a regular transfusion regimen are exposed to blood born viral infections.The aim of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among all multitransfused thalassemia patients in west north of Iran. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted in February 2014, on 32 patients in Urmia, suffering from transfusion dependent thalassemia were admitted to Motahari and Emam Khomeini hospitals...

BACKGROUND: Satisfaction evaluation is a good way to assess hospital conditions. In Health Care System, parentscan be also as children's main supporters, thus they may act as patient's viewpoints' representatives.This study aimed to evaluate mother's satisfaction of hospital care in hematology - oncology ward in Dr Sheikh hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A Cross-sectional descriptive analytic study was conducted using Pediatric Family Satisfaction (PFS) questionnaire and interviewing with 164 mothers duringMarchto February2013...

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to compare sedative and analgesic effects of oral Midazolam and Ketamine on Bone Marrow aspiration (BMA) and Lumbar Puncture (LP). MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study was a randomized clinical trial and was performed in Amirkola Hospital in north of Iran, Babol during 2011 and 2012 .The study population consisted of 40 patients who underwent the first time of diagnostic BMA for any reason, patients were divided randomly in two groups: Oral Midazolam and combined Oral Midazolam and Ketamine...

BACKGROUND: The Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to cancer can be a more illustrative index to promote preventive and therapeutic services, this study aimed to investigate the childhood cancer mortality and its trend over the past few years in Yazd to provide planners with baseline data. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Data obtained from death registration system of the healthcare center were used to calculate the age-specific standardized mortality for 5-year age groups. To calculate the YLL, the standardized expected YLL method was used with a discount rate of 0...

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a medical problem in survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Obesity is associated with many complications, so it is important to investigate the respective etiology. Leptin is a protein synthesized in the fatty tissue and is effective in the control of obesity. Survey of leptin in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors could be helpful in controlling obesity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective study, 53 pediatric patients diagnosed with ALL between 2006 and 2012 from Southern Iran, were enrolled...

Accidental overdose of chemotherapy drugs including vinblastin (VBL) have been reported in the literature. As VBL overdose is potentially fatal, we decided to introduce a 2-year-old girl affected by langerhans' cell histiocytosis who was accidentally injected 10-times the prescribed dose of VBL (16 mg), and was saved with whole blood double exchange transfusion at 8 and 20 hrs after the accidental injection. The earliest manifestations were irritability and sinus tachycardia which alleviated after starting digoxin and at the end of the 2(nd) exchange transfusion...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this review was to evaluate studies in basic oral care interventions to update evidence based practice guidelines for preventing oral mucositis (OM) in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. MATERIAL & METHODS: Pub Med database and Google Scholar were searched for all papers published between 2000 and December 2014 in English that were conducted using the search terms including ''mocusitis, chemotherapy, mouth-rinses, oral care, oral care protocol, dental care,dental cleaning, oral decontamination, oral hygiene", and the combined phrases in order to obtain all relevant studies...

BACKGROUND: Assuring safety and survival of blood in vitro depends on anti-coagulation substances, blood bag characteristics, storage conditions, and transport of blood. Besides, careful selection and screening of donors as well as blood tests can minimize the transmission risk of blood-transmissible pathogens and optimize blood health. The aim of this study was to assay the level of knowledge and practices among anesthesia technicians on blood transfusion standards. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed among 85 anesthesia technicians Shiraz, Iran throughout 2012 who were examined by census using blood transfusion questionnaires and checklists...

BACKGROUND: Multiple transfusions in thalassemia patients may lead to antibody production against blood group antigens and hemolytic transfusion reaction might occur. In this study, antibody screening test was performed by tube and gel methods to determine the prevalence and specificity of alloantibodies in thalassemia patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, overall of 100 thalassemia patients from Yazd thalassemia clinic were recruited from July to September 2013...

BACKGROUND: Malaria is an acute and chronic illness characterized by paroxysms of fever, chills, sweating, fatigue, anemia, and splenomegaly. Most malarial deaths occur in infants and young children.Anemia in malaria has diverse pathophysiologic mechanisms such as direct invasion of Red cells, In the following, we presented comparison of hematological aspects: children with Malaria and healthy children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a lab trial study. Patients were referred and admitted to the pathobiology laboratory along with physical examination...

BACKGROUND: Prevention of myocardial siderosis is a key step to reduce rate of mortality in thalassemic patients. Our objective was to study association between echocardiography parameters and serum ferritin level in patients with major thalassemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-six patients with major thalassemia were studied in Amir Kabir hospital, Arak, Iran. Serum ferritin levels were measured during 3 months in patients with no symptoms of infection. It was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)...

BACKGROUND: Cancer diagnosis may cause deep emotional and affective problems in patients and their families. Nowadays, however, despite its rising prevalence, cancer is no longer synonymous with death. Given the significance of emotional well-being in cancer patients, we decided to assess the frequency of psychological problems in seven to seventeen year-olds with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our sample included 42 children and adolescents with ALL referred to pediatric hematology department of Dr...

BACKGROUND: This study aim to determine the association between height and cancer in the children aged 14 years at the time of diagnosis in Rasht, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, height of patients with a malignancy (≤14) at the time of diagnosis measured in the standard charts of United States National Center for the Health Statistics (NCHS). Data were reported by descriptive statistics and analyzed by Regression tests in SPSS version 19...

In this study, a 2.5-year-old boy suffering from a febrile seizure with normal laboratory tests and a history of immune hemolytic anemia was examined. Brain MRI demonstrated some tumors in the frontal, parietal, and occipital lobe that corroborated the pathology results of primary central nervous system lymphoma for the patient. The patient was treated with high-dose of Methotrexate. Our result suggested regular and careful monitoring of patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia in order to control the manifestations of concomitant disease such as lymphoma that may develop later...

BACKGROUND: Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori, several clinical reports have demonstrated that H. Pylori infection has emerged as a new cause of refractory iron stores in children. We carried out a systematic literature review to primarily evaluate the existing evidence on the association between childhood H. Pylori infection and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and secondly, to investigate the beneficial effects of bacterium elimination. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This review concerns important pediatric studies published from January 1991 to October 2014...

BACKGROUND: Myeloproliferative disorders are a group of diseases characterized by increased proliferation of myeloid lineage. In addition to JAK2V617F mutation, several mutations in the c-MPL gene have been reported in patients with philadelphia-negative chronic myeloproliferative disorders that could be important in the pathogenesis of diseases. The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of c-MPL and JAK2V617F mutations in Iranian patients with Philadelphia-negativemyeloproliferative disorders...

BACKGROUND: Classification of cancer subtypes by means of microarray signatures is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore as a potential to transform pathological diagnosis; nonetheless, measurement of Indicator genes in routine practice appears to be arduous. In a preceding published study, we utilized real-time PCR measurement of Indicator genes in acute lymphoid leukaemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) as a way of application of microarray gene signatures. More to the point, the specificity of such genes for this distinction was investigated by their measurement in cases afflicted with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and with normal bone marrow (BM)...