In brief When active patients relate brief chronic fatigue, three basic questions must be answered: Is there an underlying medical or psychiatric disorder? Could the fatigue be from overtraining or a sleep disturbance? Does the patient have chronic fatigue syndrome or the far more common idiopathic chronic fatigue? Answers may come from sensitive history-taking and targeted physical and laboratory exams. And the patient must play an active role in treatment, which includes reassurance, stress relief, and regular exercise.

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In brief: Primary care physicians often need to advise pediatric patients and their parents on medical issues in children's sports, but for many areas of sports medicine, data are inconclusive, recent, or nonexistent. For instance, infant exercise programs seem to be increasing in popularity with parents, but the passive exercises have little or no effect on an infant's development. And on another front, some schools still do not allow high school girls to try out for sports like football and wrestling, yet this position has been challenged in court by a few girls. This article highlights these and other controversial issues that have arisen in children's sports, 'he author discusses these issues in light of Policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Five weekly doses of triple intrathecal (IT) chemotherapy (methotrexate, hydrocortisone, cytosine arabinoside) starting on day 1 of treatment were added to systemic induction therapy in a regimen (Arm 3) that was compared to three other regimens (Arms 1, 2, and 4) in which central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis was initiated after complete marrow remission (CR) was attained. The CR rate for Arm 3 was only 83% as compared to 91-92% for other Arms. The lower CR rate was the result of a significantly higher death rate during induction for patients receiving early CNS prophylaxis (10.6 vs 0.9-3.5%). These differences were only observed in high risk patients as defined in the study. The early death rate was especially high (30%) in Arm 3 for children who were less than 2 years of age. Infection was the primary cause of morbidity and mortality. Severe infection following the initiation of induction therapy was found in 16.7% of patients on Arm 3 vs 1.8-6% on other regimens. Immediate triple IT chemoprophylaxis during induction therapy of acute lymphoblastic leukemia as used in this study appears to be associated with increased susceptibility to infection and this form of CNS prophylaxis has increased hazards of morbidity and mortality in infants and other high risk patients.

In an attempt to improve the poor outlook for children with T-cell leukemia (T-ALL), the Southwest Oncology Group, Pediatric Division, used a modified LSA2-L2 multidrug regimen to treat 53 patients with E- rosette-positive T-ALL. This regimen was chosen because of its demonstrated efficacy in T-cell (mediastinal) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Complete remission (CR) rate was 88%. Range of follow-up for those patients remaining in CR is 24–49 mo (median 39 mo). Life table analysis estimates that 40% (SE 8.3%) of all patients who started induction therapy will remain failure-free at 3 yr. For patients achieving CR, 46% (SE 9%) are projected to remain in both marrow and extramedullary CR at 3 yr. Median failure-free duration was 13 mo, but only 1 patient has relapsed beyond 16 mo. Twenty-nine percent of initial relapses were isolated CNS relapses. The following presenting factors did not relate significantly to outcome: hemoglobin, platelet count, uric acid, race, and mediastinal mass. Age greater than 10 yr was a poor prognosis indicator only in the less than 50,000/microliter WBC group. Sex was not a significant factor after adjusting for WBC. WBC was the most important prognostic factor: 19% (SE 8%) of patients with WBC greater than 50,000/microliter are projected to remain failure- free at 3 yr as compared to 67% (SE 11%) of patients with WBC less than 50,000/microliter. Although the overall results are better than those previously reported for pediatric patients with T-ALL, the long-term failure-free rate remains low for patients presenting with greater than 50,000/microliter WBC.

Heat-induced ifiness is preventable. Physicians, teachers, coaches, and parents must be made aware of the potential hazards of high-intensity exercise in hot climates and of the measures needed to prevent heat-related illness in preadolescents. Because of the following morphologic and functional differences, exercising children do not adapt to extremes of temperature as effectively as adults when exposed to a high-climatic heat stress.1 1. Children have a greater surface area-mass ratio than adults, which induces a greater heat transfer between the environment and the body. 2. Children produce more metabolic heat per mass unit than adults when walking or running.2 3. Sweating capacity is not as great in children as in adults.3,4 4. The capacity to convey heat by blood from the body core to the skin is reduced in the exercising child.4,5 The foregoing characteristics do not interfere with the ability of the exercising child to dissipate heat effectively in a neutral or mildly warm climate. However, when air temperature exceeds skin temperature, children have less tolerance to exercise than do adults. The greater the temperature gradient between the air and the skin, the greater the effect on the child.4,6,7 Upon transition to a warmer climate, any exercising individual must allow time for conditioning for heat (acclimatization). Intense and prolonged exercise undertaken before acclimatization may be detrimental to health and might even lead to fatal heat stroke.8 Although children can acclimatize to exercise in the heat,6,9 the rate of their acclimatization is slower than that of adults.1 Therefore, a child will need more exposures to the new climate to sufficiently acclimatize.

The efficacy of intrathecal (i.t.) chemoprophylaxis was compared with cranial radiotherapy plus i.t. methotrexate (MTX) in a Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) study accessing 408 patients from September 10, 1974, to October 29, 1976. Randomization was stratified by prognostic groups (PGs) based on age and white blood cell count at diagnosis. All received induction therapy with vincristine and prednisone (Pred); maintenance therapy consisted of daily 6-mercaptopurine and weekly MTX. Consolidation for arm 1 employed cyclophosphamide and L-asparaginase followed by biweekly 5-day courses of parenteral MTX. The first dose of each course of MTX was given i.t. in triple chemoprophylaxis (MTX, hydrocortisone, and cytosine arabinoside). During maintenance, i.t. chemoprophylaxis was bimonthly and 28-day Pred “pulses” were given every 3 mo. Arm 2 i.t. chemoprophylaxis was initiated on achievement of remission, and arm 3 i.t. on treatment day 1; both continued 1 yr. Arm 4 induction included two doses of L-asparaginase. On achievement of remission, CNS prophylaxis (radiotherapy, 2400 rad plus i.t. MTX) was given. For all, therapy was discontinued after 3 yr of continuous complete remission. Survival and the incidence of extramedullary relapse were similar for the treatments employing either i.t. chemoprophylaxis or radiotherapy plus i.t. MTX upon achievement of remission. Among poor prognosis patients, the duration of complete remission was significantly better with the regimen using i.t. chemoprophylaxis as a component of consolidation therapy than with the regimen employing i.t. chemoprophylaxis early in induction or with the treatment using radiotherapy plus i.t. MTX for CNS prophylaxis. In poor prognosis patients, the initiation of i.t. chemoprophylaxis during consolidation was also associated with hematologic remissions that were significantly better than those achieved with the treatment employing early CNS chemoprophylaxis or with the regimen using radiotherapy plus i.t. MTX. Among average prognosis patients, therapy with CNS chemoprophylaxis during consolidation, as well as the regimen employing radiotherapy and i.t. MTX for CNS prophylaxis, produced hematologic remissions that were significantly longer than those obtained with the regimen using early CNS chemoprophylaxis. Hematologic remissions of good prognosis patients who received treatment with the regimen employing i.t. chemoprophylaxis during consolidation were statistically superior when compared to the regimen employing CNS radiotherapy plus i.t. MTX. This study indicates that i.t. chemoprophylaxis may be substituted for cranial radiotherapy when utilizing effective systemic regimens. Additionally, chemoprophylaxis may be reduced from 3 to 1 yr in patients with good prognostic factors.

A three-year-old acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patient had a modal chromosome count of 26 in her bone marrow metaphases. The leukemia was "common" ALL by cytochemical and immunologic studies. Five other cases had been reported previously, and all have had a near haploidy varying from 26 to 32 chromosomes. Disomy of chromosomes 18 and 21 is a consistent feature of this disease. Severe hypodiploidy correlates with microblastosis requiring morphologic separation from non-neoplastic small lymphocytes.

Eleven patients with osteogenic sarcoma (9), Hodgkin disease (1), and mesenchymal sarcoma (1), were treated with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and cisplatin (DDP). Myelosuppression and vomiting of variable degrees occurred in all. No responses were seen.

Between June 1977 and December 1978, occult testicular leukemia (OTL) was discovered at three years of continual complete remission (CCR) from the time of diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in 5 of 59 (8.5%) of males undergoing bilateral wedge testicular biopsy at 1 of 15 participating Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG) institutions. Forty-six of the 54 males with normal biopsies (78% of the total group of 59) have remained free of recurrent ALL at a median of 18 months (range 13 to 23 months) since the biopsy procedure, whereas eight have relapsed for the first time--five bone marrow (BM), one sclera, one simultaneous BM and testes, and one testes--at a median of 12.5 months (range 4 to 22 months) after the normal testicular biopsy. With aggressive therapy after biopsy in the five boys with OTL, one has died 19 months after biopsy (after two BM relapses), one is alive 21 months after biopsy (after two BM relapses), and three are alive and free of recurrent ALL 13, 16, and 19 months, respectively, since the diagnosis of OTL.

Competitive sports sponsored by schools or other community agencies are now so universally played by boys and girls 13 years old and younger that there is a compelling need for positive and realistic guidelines to govern participation. Young children are not miniature adults; they are boys and girls in the process of maturing into adults. They seek and can profit from suitable play opportunities, but the benefits do not come without prudent planning. High quality supervision and a broad range of physical education activities, including sports adapted to the needs and capacities of growing children, are required for a full realization of benefits. A sound physical education program includes a variety of competitive and recreational sports to guarantee that all children in the school system or community have a fair share of available funds, facilities, instruction, and leadership. A varied sports program provides a meaningful experience for all children, not just the physically gifted, the well developed, or the precocious. Sports have important effects on stamina and physiologic functioning, and some have lifelong value as recreational activities. These positive aspects should be emphasized in athletic programs by encouraging sports that are appropriate for children of elementary school age. These sports include bowling, golf, skating, swimming, tennis, and running. There is no physical reason to separate preadolescent children by sex in sports, physical education, and recreational activities. However, girls should not participate against pubertal and postpubescent boys in heavy collision sports because of the risk of serious injury due to their lesser muscle mass per unit of body weight.

The effectiveness of radiotherapy, 2500 rad over two weeks, in treating leukemic infiltrates of the testicles was studied in 38 boys who met the requirements for tissue conformation of testicular involvement and examination of the bone marrow. The study group was heterogeneous with respect to specific histology and prior therapy. Complete regression of testicular infiltrates was confirmed by repeated biopsy examinations of 32 of 33 patients undergoing the procedure. The single treatment failure occurred in a boy with acute myelogenous leukemia. In all other patients, local disease control following radiotherapy persisted throuthout the remainder of the clinical course. Three of 5 children, however, showed evidence of reseeding of the testicle as a part of the relapse process at post-mortem examination. Statistical analysis of data from the 35 patients with acute lymphocytic leukemia showed the subsequent course of the disease with respect to next relapse, involving either bone marrow (BM) or the central nervous system (CNS), to be dependent on the acute leukemia prognostic group, as determined by age and peripheral white blood cell count (WBC) at the time of diagnosis, and timing of extramedullary disease (EMD). Patients with poor prognosis at the time of diagnosis and EMD afterward had a 3.8 times greater risk of a subsequent BM or CNS relapse than did patients with good or average prognosis and no EMD at any time (P = 0.07). Of the candidate prognostic factors examined with repect to survival, only the number of prior BM relapses was of statistical significance (P = 0.044). Children with two or more prior BM relapses had the worst prognosis for survival from testicular relapse, with a death risk of 3.6 times greater per unit of time than that of children with no or one prior BM relapse. Protective BM and CNS rescue therapy was recommended for those otherwise in complete remission (CR) at the time of testicular relapse. The median times to next relapse for patients receiving both BM and CNS recue therapy and for patients given CNS recue only were 42+ and seven weeks, respectively ( P = 0.09). The type of rescue received did not appear to affect survival time following testicular CR.

A case of intrascrotal primary Wilms' tumor is reported. The histopathologic appearance of the primary tumor and subsequent pulmonary metastasis are identical with that of a typical intrarenal Wilms' tumor. The origin of this tumor in a heterotopic renal anlage consistent with mesonephric origin suggests that tissue from the intermediate and caudal segments of the nephrogenic cord may produce Wilms' tumor. Wilms' tumor arising in an embryologic rest of renal tissue is a rare occurrence. We are reporting the seventh well-documented case and the first case with confirmed distant metastasis.

ICRF-159 is active in several animal tumor model systems and human adult malignancies. In this phase II study, ICRF-159 was given on a weekly schedule, 3000 mg/m2/day, orally in three divided doses at 6-hour intervals to 78 children with a variety of malignant neoplasms. Fifty-three patients were evaluable for tumor response. Toxicity was primarily hematopoietic and gastrointestinal. There were no responses in any of the eight patients with osteogenic sarcoma, four with lymphoma, five with Ewing's sarcoma, ten with neuroblastoma, or six with rhabdomyosarcoma. There was a transient partial response in one of four children with Wilms' tumor. Further trials with this drug using this schedule are not indicated for the common childhood solid tumors.