Background: Emerging evidence exhibited the importance of life quality of children with pediatric cancers and their parents. The child patients generally have poor life quality and pyschological status under the intensive comprehensive therapies. Procedure: The cultural and psychological program named Ward School Program (WSP) may ease the psychological stress for the child patients. The purpose of this study is to systemically evaluate the impact of the WSP on the quality of life and psychological behavior of children with pediatric cancers. We evaluated the life quality and negative emotions of the children and their parents individually. Results: 46 child patients and their parents have accepted the invitation. compared to the occasional participation group (OP), the WSP has significantly improved the life quality satisfaction, enhanced self-conception, and promoted learning ability and attitude of the In-depth participation group (IDP), while their parents have different opinions. The parents believe that the WSP could significantly improve children’s personality problems and relieve children’s anxiety, but it has not much help on their learning skills, it indicated that it is necessary to enhance communication between parents and children for better understanding of each other. Conclusion: The WSP have postive effects on the improvement of life quality and pyschosocial behaviors for the children with pediatric cancers.

Purpose: The prognosis of the relapsed or refractory Wilms tumor (R/R WT) was dismal and new salvage chemotherapy was needed. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the combination of irinotecan and doxorubicin hydrochloride liposome regimen (AI) for R/R WT. Methods: The present study enrolled the R/R WT who were treated with AI regimen at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center from July 2018 to September 2020. The response was defined as the best observed response after the last two cycle and toxicity was evaluated. Result: Total of 16 patients with median age of 4.2 years (0.5 to 11 years) were enrolled, including 14 patients with relapsed disease and 2 patients with refractory disease. These patients received 1 to 8 courses (median 3 courses).14 patients were assessable for response: 2 complete response (CR), 5 partial response (PR), 2 stable disease (SD), 5 progression disease (PD). The objective response rate was 50% (2 CR, 5 PR) and the disease control rate was 64% (2 CR, 5 PR, and 2 SD). The median progression-free survival was 3.5 months (range 0.5-12 months), and the median survival duration was 8 months (range 1-28 months). Sixteen patients were assessable for toxicity, with most common grade 3 or 4 adverse events were alopecia (62%), leucopenia (40%), abdominal pain (38%), etc. No fatal adverse events have been observed. Conclusion: The AI regimen has positive efficacy with tolerated toxicity, it may provide an alternative option for the treatment of R/R WT.

Objective: This study aimed to compare posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), depression and family functioning between families of children with cancer and families of healthy children, examine the relationships among children’s PTSS, parents’ PTSS and depression, and family functioning, and explore the effect of disease experience on PTSS and the association between pain and PTSS in children with cancer. Methods: Participants were children with cancer (n=91) and their parents (n=91), and healthy children (n=114) and their parents (n=96). The children were asked to self-report PTSS and self-rate their pain degree, and the parents completed self-reported measures of PTSS, depression, and general family functioning. Results: The prevalence of severe PTSS in parents of children with cancer (21.98%) was significantly higher than that in parents of healthy children (1.04%). No significant difference was found in the total PTSS scores between children with cancer and healthy children. The children’s PTSS was positively correlated with their parents’ PTSS and depression in cancer group but not in the control group. Family functioning affected children’s PTSS in both families of children with cancer and healthy families. In children with cancer, PTSS was positively correlated with pain during cancer treatment but not correlated with disease experience. Conclusions: Children with cancer perceive the fear of pain during cancer treatment, whilst their parents experience more psychological trauma. Apart from cancer treatment, attention should also be given to pain management in children with cancer and the mental health of the entire family.