Weiner M A, Landmann R G, DeParedes L, Leventhal B G
Department of Pediatrics, Hackensack Medical Center, New Jersey, USA.
J Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 1995 Nov;17(4):338-41. doi: 10.1097/00043426-199511000-00010.
To determine the effect of low-dose total, or subtotal, nodal irradiation (TNI/sub-TNI) on splenic reticuloendothelial function in pediatric patients with Hodgkin's Disease (HD).
Pediatric and adolescent patients with advanced stage HD were accrued from two Pediatric Oncology Group studies and subdivided into three groups: the first had chemotherapy (CT) only; the second received chemotherapy and low-dose (2,100 cGy) TNI or subtotal TNI (sub-TNI); the third underwent staging laparotomy with splenectomy followed by CT, with or without low-dose radiotherapy. Vesiculated erythrocyte counts (VRBC) were performed on all patients using Nomarski interference phase optics at the conclusion of therapy.
The mean VRBCs were 3.2%, and 3.8% for the non-splenectomized patients who received chemotherapy only, and chemotherapy plus low-dose splenic irradiation, respectively. For those who underwent splenectomy before chemotherapy, the VRBC was 36.7%. Statistical analysis revealed no difference in vesiculated erythrocyte percentages between the CT only group and the CT + TNI/sub-TNI patients; however, there was a significant difference between both of these groups and the splenectomized patients.
Our results indicate that the addition of low-dose splenic irradiation to chemotherapy in children and adolescents with advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease does not adversely affect splenic reticuloendothial function.
