An unusual complication of cancer treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Childhood cancer is a leading cause of mortality in children less than 15 years of age, accounting for about 10.4 of total childhood deaths [Robinson LL: In: Pizzo PA, Polack DA (eds) Principles and Practice of Pediatric Oncology, 3rd edn. Lippincott--Raven, Philadelphia--NewYork, 1997, pp. 1-10.]. As more aggressive therapeutic regimens have been adopted and ostensibly cured patients are being followed for longer periods of time, it has become increasingly clear that the treatment of cancer can have significant late effects on the growing child, one of the more troublesome of which is the induction of secondary malignancy. We report an 11-year-old child who, as supported by both clinical course and neuroimaging studies, developed an unusual complication eight years after completing therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, gliomatosis cerebri.