Gudrun Fleischhack

University Hospital Essen | UK Essen · Pediatrics III

We report about a female toddler congenitally deaf and diagnosed with a non-metastatic desmoplastic medulloblastoma (SHH activated, TP53-wt, variant in LDB1 gene). No tumor predisposition syndrome was found. After complete tumor resection the patient was treated according to I-HIT-MED-Guidance protocol. Five months later an asymptomatic localised r...

PURPOSE: To assess outcomes and biological parameters of children younger than 4 years with metastatic medulloblastoma treated within the MET-HIT2000-BIS4 trial or outside the protocol. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 48 trial participants received either carboplatin/etoposide (years 2001 to 2005, n=18) or an intensified Head-Start-based induction (years 200...

BACKGROUND: Proton therapy (PT) is a valuable alternative to photon radiotherapy in treatment of CNS tumors in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of recent treatment strategies with a particular focus on the acute toxicity of a simultaneous radiotherapy and chemotherapy (sRCT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: W...

OBJECTIVES: Leukoencephalopathy (LEP, i.e. white matter T2-/FLAIR-hyperintensities on MRI) and impaired neuropsychological outcome are side effects of multimodal therapy of medulloblastoma. We identified risk factors for LEP and correlated LEP with neurocognitive functioning. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Severity of LEP either at the end of therapy (n=118...

The aim of the HIT-HGG-2007 trial (ISRCTN19852453) was to demonstrate therapeutic non-inferiority of temozolomide radiochemotherapy for pediatric patients (3-18 years) with high-grade gliomas (pedHGG) in comparison to the cisplatinum-based radiochemotherapy of the two previous clinical trials HIT-GBM-C/-D. Between 06/2009 and 12/2016, 456 patients...

INTRODUCTION: Radiotherapy with craniospinal irradiation (CSI) is an important part of initial treatment for medulloblastoma in most children. Radiotherapy after recurrence is currently not widely used. This analysis aims to evaluate whether re-irradiation (RT2) may show survival benefits. METHODS: Data for patients with recurrent medulloblastomas...

Currently an internationally accepted consensus treatment for relapsed/refractory ATRT is missing. Little is known about relapse patterns, prognostic factors and outcome. In a recently published cohort of 143 ATRTs from the EU-RHAB registry, progression on therapy or relapse occurred in 64% (n=91). Previously published strategies for treatment fail...

BACKGROUND: Follow-up examinations are an essential part of the aftercare of patients with brain tumours. We investigated survival in relation to neurological impairment and positive CSF findings at first relapse/progression of medulloblastomas. METHODS: We collected data from patients with relapsed medulloblastoma from the German HIT-REZ studies (...

INTRODUCTION: Malignant rhabdoid tumors (MRT) are highly aggressive neoplasias mostly affecting young children. They are classified as rhabdoid tumors of the central nervous system (ATRT, atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor), rhabdoid tumors of the kidney (RTK) or extracranial rhabdoid tumors arising from any soft tissue outside the central nervous sy...

Purpose To evaluate the clinical impact of isolated spread of medulloblastoma cells into cerebrospinal fluid without additional macroscopic metastases (M1-only). Methods The HIT-MED database was searched for pediatric patients with M1-only medulloblastoma diagnosed from 2000 to 2019. Corresponding clinical and molecular data was evaluated. Treatme...

Medulloblastoma is an embryonal pediatric brain tumor and can be divided into at least four molecularly defined groups. The category non-WNT/non-SHH medulloblastoma summarizes medulloblastoma groups 3 and 4 and is characterized by considerable genetic and clinical heterogeneity. New therapeutic strategies are needed to increase survival rates and t...

Recurrent medulloblastomas are associated with survival rates <10%. Adequate multimodal therapy is being discussed as having a major impact on survival. In this study, 93 patients with recurrent medulloblastoma treated in the German P-HIT-REZ 2005 Study were analyzed for survival (PFS, OS) dependent on patient, disease, and treatment characteristic...

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) of ependymoma in children is an important part of the interdisciplinary treatment concept. However, feasibility and dose concepts are still under investigation, particularly in very young children. The aim of this study was to evaluate standard dose and volume of proton therapy (PT) in children with ependymoma. Material...

Relapsed medulloblastoma (rMB) accounts for a considerable, and disproportionate amount of childhood cancer deaths. Recent advances have gone someway to characterising disease biology at relapse including second malignancies that often cannot be distinguished from relapse on imaging alone. Furthermore, there are now multiple international early-pha...

Purpose Survival in recurrent ependymoma (EPN) depends mainly on the extent of resection achieved. When complete resection is not feasible, chemotherapy is often used to extend progression-free and overall survival. However, no consistent effect of chemotherapy on survival has been found in patients with recurrent EPN. Methods Systemic chemotherap...

INFORM is a prospective, multi-national registry gathering clinical and molecular data of relapsed, progressive or high-risk pediatric cancer patients. This report describes long-term follow-up of 519 patients in whom molecular alterations were evaluated according to a pre-defined 7-scale target prioritization algorithm. Mean turnaround time from s...

Molecular groups of supratentorial ependymomas comprise tumors with ZFTA-RELA or YAP1-involving fusions and fusion-negative subependymoma. However, occasionally supratentorial ependymomas cannot be readily assigned to any of these groups due to lack of detection of a typical fusion and/or ambiguous DNA methylation-based classification. An unbiased...

PURPOSE We sought to investigate clinical outcomes of relapsed medulloblastoma and to compare molecular features between patient-matched diagnostic and relapsed tumors. METHODS Children and infants enrolled on either SJMB03 (NCT00085202) or SJYC07 (NCT00602667) trials who experienced medulloblastoma relapse were analyzed for clinical outcomes, inc...

Background Survival in recurrent ependymomas in children and adolescents mainly depends on the extent of resection. Studies on repeated radiotherapy and chemotherapy at relapse have shown conflicting results. Methods Using data from the German multi-center E-HIT-REZ-2005 study, we examined the role of local therapy and the efficacy of chemotherapy...

OBJECTIVE To avoid craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in children younger than four years with non-metastatic medulloblastoma by chemotherapy, intraventricular methotrexate and risk-adapted local radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS Eighty-seven patients received systemic chemotherapy and intraventricular methotrexate. Until 2006, CSI was reserved for n...

Neurocognitive deficits are frequent in childhood brain tumor survivors and affect mental intelligence, psychomotor and executive abilities. The differential impact of factors such as disease (location, histology) or treatment (local (LI) vs. craniospinal irradiation (CSI)) on these parameters is not fully understood. Between 2007–2011 and 2013–201...

The prognosis for pediatric ependymoma remains unaffected by recent discovery. Upfront therapy is maximal surgical resection followed by radiation and the utility of histologic diagnosis remains unreliable. Nine molecular subgroups and possible genetic drivers of ependymoma have been identified, but the implementation of these findings into targete...

INTRODUCTION The efficacy of chemotherapy in recurrent ependymoma is unclear. We present results from the German HIT-REZ-studies. METHODS 137 patients were analyzed regarding the treatment with chemotherapy at first recurrence, the time from first relapse to progression (PFS) and to either time-point of death or last follow-up (OS). Tumor response...

Unter allen onkologischen Erkrankungen im Kindes- und Jugendalter stellen die primären ZNS-Tumoren mit ca. 25 % die zweithäufigste Gruppe dar. Die primäre Resektion ist meist von großer Bedeutung, da die Patienten häufig durch die lokale Raumforderung oder einen Verschlusshydrozephalus vital bedroht sind. Die Resektion sollte immer nur so weit wie...

PURPOSE The HIT-2000-BIS4 trial aimed to avoid highly detrimental craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in children < 4 years of age with nonmetastatic medulloblastoma by systemic chemotherapy, intraventricular methotrexate, and risk-adapted local radiotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS From 2001-2011, 87 patients received systemic chemotherapy and intraventr...

Young children with brain tumours are at high risk of developing treatment-related sequelae. We aimed to assess neuropsychological outcomes 5 years after treatment. This cross-sectional study included children under 4 years of age with medulloblastoma (MB) or ependymoma (EP) enrolled in the German brain tumour trials HIT2000 and HIT-REZ2005. Testin...

Background Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a devastating cancer of childhood and adolescence. Methods The study included patients between 3 and 20 years with clinically and radiologically confirmed DIPG. Primary endpoint was 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) following administration of nimotuzumab in combination with external beam...

Background: Data on frequency, clinical presentation, and outcome of primary metastatic intracranial ependymoma in children are scarce. Patients and methods: Prospective data on patients younger than 21 years with metastatic intracranial ependymoma at first diagnosis, registered from 2001 to 2014 in the HIT-2000 trial and the HIT-2000 Interim Re...

In this Article, author Benedikt Brors was erroneously associated with affiliation number '8' (Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA); the author's two other affiliations (affiliations '3' and '7', both at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)) were correct. This has been correcte...

BACKGROUND In pediatric patients with medulloblastoma (MB) the 5-year-OS rate dependent on risk group is 35% to 90%. In unresectable or metastatic recurrence longterm prognosis is poor. Aim of this study was to evaluate the role of irradiation in relapsed MB patients registered in the German studies HIT-MED, HIT-REZ-97/-2005 and HIT-REZ-Registry be...

AT/RT is a challenging entity due to a dearth of controlled clinical trials and lack of biological samples. We aimed to identify clinical and molecular risk factors in a carefully characterised series of AT/RT. METHODS We enrolled 142 patients from 13 European countries (06/2009 to 08/2017). Median age at diagnosis was 17,5 months (25th /75th perc...

Background: Medulloblastoma is associated with rare hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes; however, consensus medulloblastoma predisposition genes have not been defined and screening guidelines for genetic counselling and testing for paediatric patients are not available. We aimed to assess and define these genes to provide evidence for futur...

Accurate pathological diagnosis is crucial for optimal management of patients with cancer. For the approximately 100 known tumour types of the central nervous system, standardization of the diagnostic process has been shown to be particularly challenging-with substantial inter-observer variability in the histopathological diagnosis of many tumour t...

Aims: Proton beam therapy (PBT) is being increasingly used for craniopharyngioma. We describe our early outcome of patients treated with PBT. Materials and methods: Between August 2013 and July 2016, 18 patients with craniopharyngiomas were treated with 54 Cobalt Gray Equivalent (CGE) in 30 fractions over 6 weeks at our centre. The early outcome...

Primäre ZNS-Tumoren sind im Kindes- und Jugendalter mit >20 % nach den Leukämien die zweithäufigste Gruppe aller onkologischen Erkrankungen. Neben der frühzeitigen Diagnosestellung stellt die Versorgung dieser Patienten hohe Anforderungen an ein interdisziplinäres Team. Durch den Einsatz multimodaler Therapiekonzepte liegt die 10-Jahres-Überlebensr...

We conducted a cytogenetic analysis of 642 children with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treated on the AML-Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) 04 protocol to determine the prognostic value of specific chromosomal aberrations including monosomal (MK⁺), complex (CK⁺), and hypodiploid (HK⁺) karyotypes, individually and in combination. Multivariate re...

Purpose To assess an intensified treatment in the context of clinical and biologic risk factors in metastatic medulloblastoma. Patients and Methods Patients (4 to 21 years old, diagnosed between 2001 and 2007) received induction chemotherapy, dose-escalated hyperfractionated craniospinal radiotherapy, and maintenance chemotherapy. Subgroup status...

First results on toxicity and local control for AT/RT treated at the West German Proton Therapy Center Essen

The HIT-SIOP-PNET4 randomised trial for standard risk medulloblastoma (MB) (2001–2006) included 338 patients and compared hyperfractionated and conventional radiotherapy. We here report the long-term outcome after a median follow up of 7.8 years, including detailed information on relapse and the treatment of relapse. Data were extracted from the HI...

The 'Individualized Therapy for Relapsed Malignancies in Childhood' (INFORM) precision medicine study is a nationwide German program for children with high-risk relapsed/refractory malignancies, which aims to identify therapeutic targets on an individualised basis. In a pilot phase, reported here, we developed the logistical and analytical pipeline...

Systemic administration of etoposide is effective in treating metastatic, recurrent or refractory brain tumors, but penetration into the cerebrospinal fluid is extremely poor. This study was designed to determine the safety and toxicity profile of intraventricular etoposide administration and was affiliated with the prospective, multicenter, nonbli...

Proton beam therapy in childhood – early results of the prospective registry at West German Proton Therapy Center Essen (WPE)

First 2-years of practice results from the WPE

Early results of proton beam therapy in sarcomas at the West German Proton Therapy Center Essen

Proton Beam Therapy in Childhood - Initial results of the West German Protont Center (WPE)

Background: To assess feasibility, acute toxicity, and efficacy of intraventricular methotrexate administered as part of the primary therapy in medulloblastoma. Methods: From 2001 to 2007, 240 patients <22years from 61 treatment centres were registered. Patients received 2-3 cycles of intraventricular methotrexate with systemic chemotherapy in t...

Tumours of the central nervous system (CNS) are the most frequent solid tumours and the second most frequent type of cancer in children and adolescents. Overall survival has continuously improved in Germany, since an increasing number of patients have been treated according to standardised, multicentre, multimodal treatment recommendations, trials...

Background: The outcome in children and adolescents with high-risk (HR) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still unsatisfactory. Therefore, in study AML-BFM 2004 we aimed to improve outcome of HR-patients by adding moderately dosed 2-Chloro-2-Deoxyadenosine (2-CDA) to the respective consolidation treatment backbone without increasing toxicity. The aim...

Leukemia is one of the leading journals in hematology and oncology. It is published monthly and covers all aspects of the research and treatment of leukemia and allied diseases. Studies of normal hemopoiesis are covered because of their comparative relevance.

Im Kindes- und Jugendalter (<15 Jahre) sind die Tumoren des zentralen Nervensystems (ZNS) mit einem Anteil von ca. 23 % aller onkologischen Erkrankungen die zweithäufigste onkologische Erkrankung. Insgesamt erkranken in Deutschland jährlich ca. 400 Kinder an einem Tumor des ZNS. Die Tumoren des ZNS treten mit einer leicht abnehmenden altersabhängig...

Im Kindes- und Jugendalter (< 15 Jahre) sind die Tumoren des zentralen Nervensystems (ZNS) mit einem Anteil von ca. 23 % aller onkologischen Erkrankungen die zweithäufigste onkologische Erkrankung. Insgesamt erkranken in Deutschland jährlich ca. 400 Kinder an einem Tumor des ZNS. Die Tumoren des ZNS treten mit einer leicht abnehmenden altersabhängi...

Early studies with high-dose chemotherapy for treatment of relapsed cerebral PNET had shown modest efficacy but considerable toxicity. The HIT97 national trial tested a nonrandomized but stratified relapse protocol using either intensive chemotherapy, potentially high dose, or oral chemotherapy. 72 patients (59 disseminated) whose primary treatment...

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) represents a rare subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) restricted to the CNS. In adults, PCNSL is associated with a poor prognosis.[1][1] Patients with predisposing conditions such as immunodeficiency have an increased risk of PCNSL.[2][2] In children

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to prospectively evaluate clinical, histopathological and molecular variables for outcome prediction in medulloblastoma patients. METHODS: Patients from the HIT2000 cooperative clinical trial were prospectively enrolled based on the availability of sufficient tumor material and complete clinical information. This reveal...

BACKGROUND: In recurrent neuroectodermal brain tumors leptomeningeal disease manifestation was observed in about 50 to 75% of patients. The role and efficacy of intrathecal therapy in these patients is unclear. As the systemic administration of etoposide is efficacious in brain tumors a phase II study was initiated to evaluate the efficacy and safe...