Alaa El Haddad

• National Cancer Institute Egypt

Background: Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) constitutes 10-15% of childhood non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Despite different treatment strategies, event-free survival has remained stable. CD3 expression, a T-cell marker, can be lost or diminished in some ALCL cases, which may affect the prognosis, especially in relapse settings according to some studi...

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic Hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) is a potentially curative treatment option in patients with various hematological and lymphatic malignancies. Survival after HSCT has improved over the years but despite the possibility of cure for an otherwise terminal illness, allogeneic HSCT can be accompanied by high levels of morbidity, mortality...

Background Molecular testing plays a pivotal role in monitoring measurable residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), aiding in the refinement of risk stratification and treatment guidance. Wilms tumor gene 1 (WT1) is frequently upregulated in pediatric AML and serves as a potential molecular marker for MRD. This study aimed to evaluat...

Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is a rare type of potentially fatal childhood brain tumor. The present study aimed to examine the overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) outcomes of pediatric patients with ATRT and to analyze the impact of different prognostic factors, including age, sex, tumor site and size, metastatic disease,...

Background/objectives: Cyclosporine A (CSA) dosing has been complicated by considerable intra-patient and inter-patient variability in pharmacokinetics, which is affected by different factors. We aimed to assess the various factors that might affect the CSA dose and its plasma level. Patients and methods: This retrospective study included paedia...

Aims: To assess the clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics (Sonic hedgehog and group 3/4 molecular subtypes expression) and treatment modalities for infantile medulloblastoma in correlation with outcomes. Materials & methods: A retrospective study of 86 medulloblastoma patients (≤3 years) was conducted. M0 patients <2.5 years received...

Background Mixed-phenotype acute leukemia (MPAL) in children is an uncommon subtype of acute leukemia that cannot be definitively assigned to a specific lineage. There is no consensus on the best approach to therapy. Management is more complex in low–middle-income countries (LMICs). Aim To evaluate the clinicopathological characteristics and outco...

Studies addressing the utilization of post-transplant cyclophosphamide as graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis in allogeneic hemopoietic stem cell transplantation from matched sibling donors are limited and with controversial results. Chronic GVHD incidence necessitating systemic treatment is around 35% in peripheral blood stem cell transpl...

Bloodstream infections (BSI) are a frequently observed complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Retrospective analysis of clinical and microbiological data during the first 100 days from 302 consecutive pediatric patients who underwent HSCT for a malignant disease at our institute between January 2013 and June 2017. A total of...

Introduction: Hematopoietic SCT requires tremendous re- sources. The SCT program in Egypt started in 1989 on a narrow scale and since that time we faced many challenges. Our team is registered in the CIBMTR and transplanted more than 4500 cases (60% allogeneic and 40% autologous). Challenges and Solutions: Donor motivation: We were one of the first...

Background: Children and adolescents with HL have excellent long-term survival exceeding 95% after combined modality treatment. However, about 20% will either relapse or have PRF. Salvage HDCT followed by AHSCT is considered to be the preferential treatment. Objective: To describe the outcome (OS and EFS) and prognostic factors in pediatric pati...

Purpose: Infantile hepatic hemangioendothelioma (IHHE) is the most common hepatic vascular tumor in children. We report on the treatment outcome of our large single-center experience of patients with IHHE over a 9-year period. Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of all IHHE patients treated at the Children Cancer Hospital Egypt from...

Introduction Although many therapeutic options have been attempted for pediatric myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), still hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is the only curative therapy. We described the outcome of these patients and the factors affecting the overall survival (OS) and event free survival (EFS). Methods This is a retrospective...

Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) activity is increasing worldwide due to safer techniques, widening indications, and more availability of donors. New HCT centers have recently been established in many developing countries including Asian and African countries. Due to limited resources, logistic, political, and social issues in developing countri...

Introduction: The outcome of Adult acute lymphoblastic leu- kemia (ALL) patients with chemotherapy only is not promising. Allogeneic Hematopoietic transplantation (allo-HSCT) in (!CR1) has shown a superior OS rate. Total body irradiation plus Cyclophosphamide (TBI/Cy) and oral busulfan plus cyclophos- phamide (BU/Cy) are commonly used conditioning...

Pediatric brain tumors affect many children worldwide, attributing to 25% of all diagnosed pediatric cancers annually. More than 85% of those newly diagnosed pediatric brain tumor cases occur in developing, low-middle income countries (LMICs). There is paucity in overall survival studies that examine 5-year survival of children in LMICs compared to...

The alloreactivity of natural killer (NK) cell after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) is regulated by the interaction between donor killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs) and recipient human leukocyte antigen (HLA)- class I molecules. The aim was to identify KIR genes, haplotypes and their HLA-class I ligands and to i...

Aim Knowledge of allele and haplotype frequencies in human populations guides the search for an HLA- matched unrelated hematopoietic stem cell donor. A new algorithm developed by the National Marrow Donor program uses this information to predict the likelihood that a volunteer of a particular ethnicity will carry specific HLA alleles when typed at...

p> Introduction: Fanconi’s anemia (FA) is a rare genetic disorder. Patients with this disorder have progressive bone marrow failure, congenital abnormalities and are vulnerable to malignancy. Aim: Explaining our single center experience regarding ATG based conditioning regimen that’s used for the transplantation of patients with Fanconi’s Anemia....

Malignant infantile autosomal recessive osteopetrosis (ARO) is rare hereditable skeletal dysplasia characterized by a generalized osteosclerosis. ARO usually runs a fatal course in early childhood if untreated. Serious complications can arise from bone marrow suppression and pancytopenia. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the only a...

Background Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is the most common pediatric cancer. The exact cause is not known in most cases, but past epidemiological research has suggested a number of potential risk factors. This study evaluated associations between environmental and parental factors and the risk for ALL in Egyptian children to gain insight into r...

Introduction: B-Thalassemia Major (BTM) originated in Med- iterranean, Middle Eastern, and Asian regions, in Egypt it is considered the most common chronic hemolytic anemia (85.1%). (1,2) Despite the remarkable improvements in medical therapy for hemoglobinopathies.Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) still remains the only available cura...

Treatment of childhood hematologic malignancies requires multidisciplinary care and reliable infrastructural support; creating a this structure in resource-poor settings remains challenging. Ideally therapy would be tailored to each region and disease. The development of research initiatives is essential. Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymp...

Unlabelled: Human leukocyte antigen-E (HLA)-E in a non-classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I (Ib) molecule. HLA-E-peptide complex acts as a ligand for natural killer (NK) cells and CD8+ T lymphocytes playing a dual role in natural and acquired immune responses. The difference in expression levels between HLA-E alleles was sugges...

Cerebellar pilomyxoid astrocytomas (PMAs) and intermediate pilomyxoid astrocytomas (IPAs) are collectively called "pilomyxoid-spectrum astrocytomas (PMSAs)." Cerebellar PMSAs are thought to behave more aggressively than pilocytic astrocytomas (PAs). Our objective is to compare PMSAs to PAs in terms of surgical and clinical profiles. This retrospect...

Background: Historically, the diagnosis of T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) or T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T-LBL) predicted a higher risk of induction failure, early relapse, and worse event-free survival (EFS) compared with B-precursor childhood leukemia or lymphoma. Treatment intensification has dramatically improved the general pro...

Purpose: To evaluate the success of ocular survival following chemoreduction and efficency of local treatment in the management of Retinoblastoma in the first multidisciplinary system for the treatment of childhood cancer in egypt Methods: A total number of 262 retinoblastomas cases managed between July 2007 to December 2012 with six cycles of chem...

4310 Introduction T cell lymphoid malignancies are associated with distinctive clinical and biologic features; however, true lineage-specific treatments have yet to be identified. Recent trials have shown promising results for patients with advanced T-cell malignancies given novel treatment regimens of rotating myelosuppressive agents. Objectives...

Background Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a leading cause of hospital-related deaths worldwide. However, the proportion of patients at risk of VTE who receive appropriate prophylaxis in Egypt is unknown. The ENDORSE study in Egypt is part of a global initiative to uncover the incidence of high-risk surgical and medical patients and determine what...

NTRODUCTION: As Central Nervous System tumors account for second most common childhood malignancies, improving treatment modalities can lead to increase the survival rate of patients. The epidemiological investigations make a large-scale database of analysis for prognostic features of this group. In this study, we examined the epidemiology of child...

Background: Cancer is as a major health concern around the world, being the second leading cause of death. There is a serious concern that medical students are not being adequately prepared to provide optimal health care in the system where they will eventually practice, particularly in developing countries. Methods: After our initial success in es...

RAD51 (Rec A homolog of E.coli) is a polymorphic gene and one of the central proteins in homologous recombination-DNA-double-stand breaks (HR-DNA-DSB) repair pathway, which is vital in maintaining genetic stability within a cell. The x-ray repair cross complementing (XRCC3) protein also functions in HR-DNA-DSB repair pathway and directly interacts...

RAD51 (Rec A homolog of E. coli) is a polymorphic gene and one of the central proteins in homologous recombination-DNA-double-stand breaks (HR-DNA-DSB) repair pathway, which is vital in maintaining genetic stability within a cell. The x-ray repair cross complementing (XRCC3) protein also functions in HR-DNA-DSB repair pathway and directly interacts...

academic year) was based on previous submission of C.V. and a letter of motivation describing their goals and reasons for choosing a summer training course in oncology. A total of 23 students attended the course (9 students in the fourth year, 11 students in the fifth year and 3 students in the sixth year) with a predominance of female students (74...

Management of CML has changed markedly since the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). However stem cell transplantation (SCT) remains a valid therapeutic modality especially in developing countries due to its relatively lower cost. We aim to compare between imatinib mesylate and SCT as regard outcome in CML in the pediatric age group....

Xeroderma pigmentosa (XP) is a hereditary disease characterized by deficient repair of DNA damage that occurred on exposure of the skin to ultraviolet irradiation. The affected children have a propensity to develop multiple skin cancers mainly in the face and eventually die before the age of 20. Allograft replacement of facial skin by a healthy ski...

Evaluation of demographic, pathological, and clinical patterns in addition to treatment outcome of pediatric NRSTS patients treated at the NCI, Egypt. 21 pediatric patients of NRSTS between 2001 and 2006 were included. Clinical and pathological diagnosis and subtyping verification were done. Patients' cohort formed of 3 treatment groups. (1) Patien...

The aim of this work was to assess the epidemiologic aspects, clinico-pathological features and the results of multidisciplinary treatment of Wilms' tumor (WT) in pediatric patients treated at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo University, between January 2002 and December 2004. This study included 53 patients, all under the age of 16 years...

Hospitalization with single or multi-agent antibiotic therapy has been the standard of care for treatment of febrile neutropenia in cancer patients. We hypothesized that an empiric antibiotic regimen that is effective and that can be administered once-daily will allow for improved hospital utilization by early transition to outpatient care. Febrile...

Abdominal presentations of pediatric NHL are rarely amenable to complete surgical resection. Chemotherapy is the hallmark of treatment for pediatric NHL. Treatment of various types of this disease including intra-abdominal NHL in children with various protocols have not exceeded 54 per cent two-year disease-free survival. We have attempted to study...

Purpose: Hospitalization with empiric broad spectrum intravenous antibiotics has been the standard of care for treatment of high-risk febrile neutropenia. In an attempt to improved hospital utilization we attempt to identify a group of patients at a lower risk of sepsis that would be eligible for outpatient therapy. We hypothesized that patients in...

Our objective was to evaluate, probably for the first time, the impact of CD34 subsets on engraftment kinetics in allogeneic PBSC transplantation (PBSCT). PBSC graft components were analyzed in 62 cases for the absolute count/kg of total CD34+ and the following subsets: DR- and +, CD71+/-, CD38+/-, CD33+/- and CD61+/-. Time to ANC >0.5 and >1 x 10(...

Liver disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality among recipients of bone-marrow transplantation (BMT). The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the incidence, risk factors and clinical evolution of liver disease following allogeneic BMT. A total of 103 patients (mean age 22.8 years (SD 10.9); 31.1% aged < 18 years; 66% ma...

8520 Background: The empiric usage of once daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin (C+A) for febrile neutropenia allows outpatient treatment for selected patients. We hypothesized that patients initially at high risk for sepsis can be candidates for outpatient therapy if at 48 hours satisfy strict “Selection Criteria”. Being a well established monotherapy...

Over the past 25 years, the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has shown a tremendous progress, and consequently there has been an exponential growth of the number of transplanted patients as well as the number of indications for which the transplantation deemed necessary. Compared to bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood (PB) is...

Background: Allogeneic haematopoeitic stem cell transplantation currently represents the only available therapeutic approach in several malignant and non malignant haematologic disorders. Evaluation of post-transplantation chimerism by PCR has become a routine approach to monitor its clinical outcome. Variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) loci are a...

In this randomized prospective study, we included 30 patients with different hematological diseases (acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, chronic myeloid leukemia, myelodysplastic syndrome or severe aplastic anemia) to compare peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) (15 patients; mean age 23) and bone marrow (BM) (15 patients; mean age...

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) was measured in the sera of 19 patients pre- and weekly post-allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). All marrow donors were HLA identical siblings. The level was elevated in seven cases and five of them developed severe acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) grade 3 and 4. This relation was statistica...

Cefoperazone-sulbactam monotherapy was compare with an aminoglycoside-containing regimen of piperacillin plus amikacin in a prospective, randomized trial of empiric therapy for pediatric febrile neutropenic cancer patients (absolute neutrophil count not more than 500/mm3). Thirty patients were treated with cefoperazone-sulbactam and 16 were treated...

Background: Nowadays, patients with cancer receive more intensive chemotherapeutic regimens together with broad spectrum antibiotics during periods of profound im- munosuppression. Thus, cancer patients are susceptible to infection with clostridium difficile but the role of this pathogen in pediatric oncology patients is poorly defined. Patients an...