Childhood infantile malignancies; single-centre experience

This study aims to determine the frequency, clinical characteristics, five years overall survival, disease-free survival and some other features of infants who were diagnosed with malignancy between 2014-2021 in the Akdeniz University Hospital Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology. This research was carried out retrospectively and collected data from 58 infant patients diagnosed with malignancy under the age of one between 01 January 2014 and 31 December 2021 in the Akdeniz University Hospital Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology. Histopathological diagnosis of malignany was confirmed in almost all infant patients. The date of approval of the official report of pathology was accepted to determine the date of diagnosis, but the date of approval of the final report of radiological imaging in some patients who were given neoadjuvant chemotherapy with Wilms tumor in mind was determined according to clinical and radiological evaluations, cytological studies and tumor determinants in patients diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Cancer types are classified according to the International Childhood Cancer Classification (2005 – ICCC-3). In this study 34 infants (58.6%) were male and gender ratio is male/female: 1.42. The mean age was 6,04 ± 3,95 months. There were nine (15.5%) infants diagnosed in the first month after birth and 34 (55.2%) infant patients diagnosed in the first 6 months. Among the childhood malignities observed in our center within seven years, the most common diagnoses were leukemias (27.6%), central nervous system tumors (19.5%), lymphomas (15.7%). The most common infantile cancer group that we see; germ cell tumors (20.7%), leukemia (15.5%), central nervous system (CNS) tumors (15.5%) and neuroblastomas (15.5%). According to the age of diagnosis of the patients, the lowest mean age was 3.71±3.22 months for neuroblastomas, while the highest mean age was 10.10±2.02 months for patients diagnosed with soft tissue tumors. Ten of the patients (17,2 %) died due to complications related to the disease or treatment. There are 46 infants (86%) live disease-free. Five-year overall survival rate: %77,6±6,5 and, five-year event-free survival rate was %76,2±6,1. It was found that the diagnosis of sex early after the symptoms began had no effect on survival rates. (p>0.05). Deaths were significantly higher in patients with soft tissue tumors and CNS tumors (p=0.000). In our cohort, the incidence of malignancies in infants ''under one year of age'' was different from the world's datas and germ cell tumors were in the first place. It was observed that patients with soft tissue tumors and central nervous system tumors were more mortal.