Genomic profiling by whole-genome single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in Wilms tumor and association with relapse

n/

Patterns of domestic migrations and access to childhood cancer care centres in Italy: A report from the hospital based registry of the Italian Association of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (AIEOP)

Tertiary care centres, grouped in the Italian Association of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (AIEOP) are unevenly distributed across the country. In an attempt to describe their perceived efficacy, we matched the residence and the location of the treatment centre in 18,441 patients aged ≤15 years treated in the AIEOP network between 1989 and 2005. Overall, centres located in the central and southern regions were less appealing than those located in the North, although this trend decreased over the study period. Patients with solid tumours migrated more frequently than those with leukaemia or lymphoma. Information resulting from better knowledge of the non-random migrations for treatment of children with cancer will be useful to refine planning of the national paediatric haematology-oncology network with social and economic implications. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Assistance to parents who have lost their child with cancer

Aims and background: To assess the psychological needs of parents after the death of their child from cancer. Methods: The study comprises a preliminary retrospective phase to identify parents who spontaneously contacted the medical staff, followed by a prospective phase in which families were contacted by telephone and were invited to a meeting. Results: The retrospective study demonstrated that more than 50% of the families spontaneously sought contact with the department. In the prospective study, 17 families were contacted and the majority of them subsequently decided to come to the department for a talk. Conclusions: Our experience shows that parents have a strong need to have further contact with the team that took care of their children for months. In the process of coping with bereavement, anxiety and depression are common and not necessarily pathological, though there may be psychopathological reactions that can interfere with the parents' quality of life