Surveillance IDs New Tumors in Children With Cancer Predisposition

FRIDAY, June 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Standardized surveillance identifies new tumors among children with a wide spectrum of cancer predisposition syndromes (CPSs), according to a study published online June 20 in JAMA Oncology.

Alise Blake, from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and colleagues reviewed surveillance outcomes for children and young adults from birth to age 23 years with a clinical and/or molecular CPS diagnosis. A total of 274 children and young adults with 35 CPSs were monitored using standard surveillance regimens for their CPS at a specialty pediatric oncology center.

The researchers found that 35 asymptomatic tumors were detected in 27 patients (9.9 percent of the cohort) through surveillance during the study period and five symptomatic tumors were detected in five patients (1.8 percent of the cohort) outside surveillance, two of whom also had tumors detected through surveillance. Of the 35 tumors, 10 (28.6 percent) were identified on first surveillance imaging. Malignant solid and brain tumors identified through surveillance were more often localized than similar tumors detected before diagnosis of CPS (20 of 24 versus 71 of 125 [83.3 versus 56.8 percent]). Completely negative margins were obtained in 17 of the 24 tumors identified through surveillance and surgically resected. High sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were seen across imaging modalities (96.4, 99.6, 94.3, and 99.6 percent, respectively); there were few false-positive or false-negative findings (0.4 and 0.3 percent, respectively).

"Standardized surveillance successfully uncovers new asymptomatic tumors in children and young adults across a broad range of CPSs," the authors write.

One author disclosed ties to Alexion.

Abstract/Full Text