MyMedR

Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 67 in total

Abstract:

Sort:

Fulltext Malignant lymphoma in children: University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur 1967-1980

Sinniah D, Tan BE, Lin HP

Singapore Med J, 1983 Jun;24(3):140-4.
PMID: 6635676

Malignant lymphoma constitutes the third most common childhood malignancy seen at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur and can be categorised into Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Both diseases demonstrate a higher preference for Chinese males. The majority of patients presented with stage IV disease. High default rate and poor compliance to treatment were associated with poor overall cure rates but encouraging results have been obtained in those who adhered to therapy. There is an obvious need to educate the public on the improved outlook 'or childhood malignancies and 'or earlier referral to help reduce the higher mortality and morbidity associated with advanced disease.
Fulltext Review of Wilms' tumour in Malaysian children

Sinniah D, Muthiah M, Lin HP, Somasundaram K

Singapore Med J, 1981 Feb;22(1):24-7.
PMID: 6264629

A review of all cases of nephroblastoma admitted to the University Hospital over a 10 year period reveals that its incidence relative to the other childhood tumours and epidemiological features are similar to other centres. The majority of patients presented with either stage III or IV disease. During the period 1968·1972 the number of defaulters was high and survival was poor. Following the introduction of treatment protocol, default rate has fallen and 5 of 7 patients have survived more than 2 years. Earlier referral and education of the parents should help improve the outcome for children with Wilms' tumour in Malaysia.
Fulltext Unrelated cord blood transplantation in children--a 10-year experience from UMMC

Chan LL, Lin HP, Chong LA, Hany A, Ariffin AW

Med J Malaysia, 2009 Jun;64(2):124-9.
PMID: 20058571

Children who would benefit from a haematopoietic stem cell transplantation often lacked a compatible sibling donor. Unrelated cord blood transplantation was offered as an alternative donor source for patients with a variety of malignant and non-malignant diseases who had no further treatment options. Cord blood units were sourced from various international cord blood registries. The median nucleated and CD34+ cell doses were 8.7 x 10(7)/kg and 2.6 x 10(5)/kg respectively. In spite of adequate cell doses, a high rate of non-engraftment of 32% was observed. Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) occurred in 14 out of the 15 patients who engrafted with 53% being grade III to IV GVHD. The five year disease free survival was 40.7% with infection and GVHD being the commonest causes of death. The five year disease free survival was 20.5% and 60.7% for malignant and non-malignant diseases respectively.
Pediatric Vaginal Yolk Sac Tumor: Reappraisal of Treatment Strategy in a Rare Tumor at a Unique Location

Rajagopal R, Ariffin H, Krishnan S, Abdullah WA, Lin HP

J Pediatr Hematol Oncol, 2015 Jul;37(5):391-5.
PMID: 25929614 DOI: 10.1097/MPH.0000000000000344

Review of the management of 6 young girls with vaginal yolk sac tumor over 25 years showed that the α-fetoprotein levels normalized in 5/6 within 4 cycles of primary cisplatin, bleomycin, etoposide (PEB)/carboplatin, etoposide, bleomycin (JEB)/cisplatin, vinblastine, bleomycin (PVB) chemotherapy. Radioimaging revealed residual tissue but viable tumor was found in only 1 of 2 biopsied. Resection/biopsy is necessary to avoid giving additional primary chemotherapy or to identify patients who need different treatment. If markers do not decay appropriately, PEB/JEB/PVB chemotherapy should not be continued. Taxol-containing salvage chemotherapy regimens, adjuvant modern radiotherapeutic treatment, and fertility-saving curative surgery should then be considered. Despite having mostly advanced disease, 5/6 patients were cured, 2 with chemotherapy alone.
Single-daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin versus thrice-daily ceftazidime plus amikacin as empirical treatment of febrile neutropenia in children with cancer

Ariffin H, Arasu A, Mahfuzah M, Ariffin WA, Chan LL, Lin HP

J Paediatr Child Health, 2001 Feb;37(1):38-43.
PMID: 11168867

OBJECTIVE: Empirical antibiotic treatment for febrile neutropenic patients has been the mainstay of treatment for many years. Beta-lactam antibiotics and aminoglycosides have been the most frequently used drug combination. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerance and costs of single-daily ceftriaxone plus amikacin versus thrice-daily dose of ceftazidime plus amikacin.
METHODOLOGY: One hundred and ninety-one episodes of fever and neutropenia in 128 patients from October 1997 to December 1998 were included in a prospective, open-label, single-centre study. Patients were randomly assigned to either treatment group and evaluated as successes or failures according to defined criteria. Daily assessments were made on all patients and all adverse events recorded. Univariate and multivariate analysis of outcomes and a cost analysis were carried out.
RESULTS: There were 176 evaluable patient-episodes with 51.1% in the single-daily ceftriaxone-amikacin group and 48.9% in the ceftazidime-amikacin group. There were 50 positive blood cultures: 12 Gram-positive bacteria, 33 Gram-negative bacteria and five fungi. Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) accounted for 14% of total isolates. The overall success rate was 55.5% in the ceftriaxone group compared to 51.2% in the ceftazidime group (P = 0.56). Mean time to defervescence was 4.2 days in the single-daily group and 4.3 days in the thrice-daily group. There were nine infection-related deaths; five in the single-daily ceftriaxone group. The daily cost of the once-daily regime was 42 Malaysian Ringgit less than the thrice-daily regime. There was a low incidence of adverse effects in both groups, although ototoxicity was not evaluable.
CONCLUSIONS: The once-daily regime of ceftriaxone plus amikacin was as effective as the 'standard' combination of thrice-daily ceftazidime and amikacin with no significant adverse effects in either group. The convenience and substantial cost benefit of the once-daily regime will be particularly useful in developing countries with limited health resources and in centres with a low prevalence of P. aeruginosa.
Fulltext Presenting features and treatment outcome of 78 Malaysian children with neuroblastoma

Ng SM, Abdullah WA, Lin HP, Chan LL

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 1999 Mar;30(1):149-53.
PMID: 10695803

To study the distribution of presenting features and their prognostic significance in neuroblastoma treated in a single institution in Malaysia. A retrospective study was made of 78 neuroblastoma cases diagnosed and treated in the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between June 1982 and February 1997. Diagnosis was established by standard histological criteria. The presenting features were evaluated for their distribution and prognostic influence. Disease-free survival from diagnosis was the outcome variable of interest. The ages ranged from 0.1 to 11 years old (median: 3 years old). The tumor originated from the adrenal glands in 83% and the majority of cases presented in advanced stage (stage III 22%, stage IV 66%). Bone marrow was the commonest site of distant metastasis occurring in 45% of patients. The main presenting signs and symptoms in decreasing order were pallor, fever, abdominal mass, weight loss, and bone/joint pain. Univariate analysis conferred age, initial stage and Hb level as significant prognostic factors. No influence in disease-free survival was found for sex, race, primary site, urinary vanillylmandelic acid level, white cell count and platelet count. Overall 2-year disease-free survival was achieved in 27 (39%) patients. Four patients underwent bone marrow transplant, three of whom achieved 2-year disease-free survival. The results suggest that age, initial stage and hemoglobin level are significant prognostic factors based on univariate analysis. In addition, more Malaysian children presented with adrenal primary site and advanced disease compared to previous reported studies.
Fulltext Providing a cure for beta thalassaemia major

Chan LL, Lin HP, Ariffin WA, Ariffin H

Med J Malaysia, 2001 Dec;56(4):435-40.
PMID: 12014762

The current treatment options for beta thalassaemia major patients include conservative treatment with blood cell transfusions and iron chelation or stem cell transplantation. Regular blood transfusions inevitably lead to multi-organ haemosiderosis and are attended by risks of blood-borne infections. Results from stem cell transplantation are good and suggest that this should be offered as first line therapy when a matched sibling donor is available because the patient is often cured and able to live a normal life. Of 38 Malaysian children who underwent bone marrow or cord blood transplantations using matched sibling donors, 29 (76%) are now cured.
Fulltext Infantile myofibromatosis

Ariffin H, Teh KH, Looi LM, Ariffin WA, Lin HP

Med J Malaysia, 2001 Dec;56(4):497-9.
PMID: 12014771

Infantile myofibromatosis (IMF) is a rare tumour with a wide spectrum of disease activity ranging from a solitary cutaneous nodule through to a multicentric form with widespread visceral involvement. It is characterised by its unique ability to spontaneously regress and has a typical histological appearance of actin-positive fibroblasts arranged in whorls or fascicles and vessels in a pericytomatous pattern. A male infant with multiple lesions involving the subcutaneous tissue and bone from birth is described and followed-up for two years. Treatment of IMF is dependent on the location of the tumour/s with surgery or chemotherapy reserved for rapidly progressive or symptomatic disease. However, due to the low rate of recurrence and the possibility of spontaneous tumoral regression, therapeutic abstention, as practised in our patient, is justified.
Fulltext Treating high risk childhood solid tumours with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation--early experience in University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur

Chan LL, Lin HP, Ariffin WA, Ariffin H, Saw MH

Med J Malaysia, 1999 Jun;54(2):175-9.
PMID: 10972026

Although survival rates for childhood cancers have improved steadily over the past two decades, the outcome for advanced stage solid tumours remains poor. Many of these tumours are chemosensitive but most chemotherapeutic regimens are limited by their haematological toxicities. Much attention is now focused on mega-dose chemotherapy followed by stem cell rescue in the treatment of disseminated neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, germ cell tumour and brain tumours. There is a preferential shift towards peripheral blood stem cell transplantation instead of bone marrow transplantation because of its advantages of faster engraftment, decreased transfusion and antibiotic usage and shortened hospitalisation. This mode of therapy is dependent on technologies including peripheral blood stem cell harvesting, cell cryopreservation and thawing. These technologies were recently made available in Malaysia and we report our early experience.
Streptokinase infusion for asparaginase-induced arterial thrombosis

Omar KZ, Ariffin H, Abdullah WA, Chan LL, Lin HP

Med. Pediatr. Oncol., 2000 May;34(5):377-8.
PMID: 10797367
Fulltext Second malignant neoplasms: an increasingly recognized complication of childhood cancer

Ariffin H, Ariffin WA, Chan LL, Lam SK, Lin HP

Med J Malaysia, 1997 Jun;52(2):174-7.
PMID: 10968078

Second malignant neoplasms (SMN) are an increasingly recognized late complication seen in childhood cancer survivors. A total of 3 cases of SMN have been found in the Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Kuala Lumpur after a 15-year experience of treating childhood malignancies. Two cases are described here. The first developed abdominal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma 3 years after undergoing an allogeneic bone marrow transplant for second relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, while the second child developed myeloid leukaemia two years after completing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Progress in the management of childhood cancer in Malaysia and the availability of bone marrow transplantation facilities have increased the number of childhood cancer survivors; leading to increased incidence of SMN.
Fulltext Concordant childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia in monozygotic twins

Chin YM, Wan Ariffin A, Lin HP, Chan YS

Med J Malaysia, 1996 Mar;51(1):145-8.
PMID: 10967997

Two 4-year-old monozygotic Chinese, female twins developed concordant childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) within an interval of about 2 weeks. Based on morphology and cytochemistry findings of the bone marrow blast cells, a diagnosis of ALL, L1 was made. Immunophenotyping showed the blast cells of both twins expressed similar antigens, i.e. HLA-DR, CD10, CD13, CD19, CD22 and CD34. Identical blood group, same HLA (human leucocyte antigen) genotype, sex and similar appearance suggest that the twins are monozygotic. Since the bone marrow leukemic cells of both twins were identical in morphology and expressed the same antigens with almost similar percentages of positivity, it is likely that the blast cells were derived from the same single clone. Based on the single clone hypothesis, the leukemogenic event must have arisen in utero in one twin and the cells from the abnormal clone then spread to the other twin via shared placental anastomoses.
Biphenotypic hybrid acute leukaemia detected by two colour flow cytometry

Gudum HR, Chin YM, Menaka N, Jeyaranee S, Lin HP, Tay A

Malays J Pathol, 1992 Jun;14(1):25-8.
PMID: 1469914

Immunophenotypic studies using immunofluorescent flow cytometry were performed on the blast cells of 36 patients with acute leukaemia using a panel of eight monoclonal antibodies. Six patients had blasts which co-expressed markers for lymphoid and myeloid differentiation, and which were therefore defined as biphenotypic hybrid acute leukaemia. Of the six, three patients were in the paediatric age group (below 12 years old) while the other three were more than 12 years old. Peripheral blood counts were variable; however, bone marrow infiltration was extensive (blasts > or = 75% in all). At the time of study, remission was achieved in only two patients. The authors' data show that biphenotypic hybrid acute leukaemia is not rare in Malaysia. This represents a subgroup of acute leukaemia identifiable by immunophenotyping but not by the French-American-British classification based on morphological and basic cytochemical studies alone. The recognition of this subgroup is important for both practical and theoretical reasons. There are implications for treatment of the individual patient because treatment directed at a single lineage may not be effective. The two colour flow cytometry proved to be a useful tool for diagnosis and classification of acute leukaemia.
Fulltext Primary liver cancer in Malaysian children

Sinniah D, Sumithran E, Lin HP, Chan LL, Toh CK

Med J Malaysia, 1980 Mar;34(3):265-8.
PMID: 6251351

The high incidence of primary liver cancer in Malaysian males is not observed in childhood, where it constitutes 0.16 per 1000 paediatric hospital admissions and 3.20/0 of all childhood malignancies at the University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. This frequency is comparable to that reported from several developed countries. The commonest liver tumour in children is the hepatoblastoma which is probably of embryonal origin and has a similar world wide "incidence. The relative infrequency of hepatocellular carcinoma in childhood and its association with cirrhosis, the hepatitis B antigen and its prevalence in the older age group helps to substantiate an acquired environmental aetiology.
Childhood primary hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis B virus infection

Cheah PL, Looi LM, Lin HP, Yap SF

Cancer, 1990 Jan 1;65(1):174-6.
PMID: 2152851

In the 7-year period between 1980 and 1987, six cases of childhood primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC) were confirmed histologically in our institution. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity was confirmed in five of the cases, and tissue HBsAg was shown in four of these using the Shikata's orcein stain. An associated maternal HBsAg seropositivity was shown in two of the seropositive children. The youngest seropositive patient who developed PHC was 7 years old. The mother of this patient was also seropositive. These observations support a causal relation between childhood Hepatitis B virus infection and PHC. The importance of vertical or perinatal transmission of HBV in the causation of childhood PHC and the prophylactic role of childhood vaccination is emphasized. Attention is also drawn to the relative short malignant transformation time seen in some of these patients.
Testicular relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in Malaysia, 1967-82

Lin HP, Taib NM, Singh P, Sinniah D, Lam KL

Aust Paediatr J, 1984 Mar;20(1):53-6.
PMID: 6590027

From 1967-82, 9 children with testicular relapse (TR) of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were diagnosed out of 99 boys treated, an incidence of 9.1%. The median time from the onset of ALL until diagnosis was 28 months (range 3-41 months). All were asymptomatic; six were detected on routine examination while three were diagnosed only on biopsy. Routine biopsy prior to stopping chemotherapy is useful in detecting occult TR. Biopsies should be done on both the testes regardless of the clinical findings. The age, leucocyte count and hepatosplenomegaly at diagnosis of ALL were not found to be significant factors in influencing relapse. Eight children were in bone marrow remission at the time of TR, but three had preceding or concurrent meningeal leukaemia while in the other five the testis was the first and only site of relapse. Radiotherapy was effective in local disease control but failed to prevent bone marrow relapse in all except two patients despite continuation of chemotherapy. The median time from onset of TR until bone marrow relapse was 7 months (range 3-13 months) and the median time until death, was 11 months (range 6-18 months). The frequency of testicular relapse may be related to the intensity of either the initial induction therapy or the consolidation chemotherapy. Further studies are required to determine whether the incidence of testicular relapse will decline with more intensive early treatment.
Screening for G. 6-P.D. deficiency

Robinson MJ, Lau KS, Lin HP, Chan GL

Med J Malaysia, 1976 Jun;30(4):287-90.
PMID: 979730
Secondary B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia following Wilms' tumor: clinical and in vitro chemosensitivity studies

Ariffin H, Muthukkumaran T, Stanslas J, Sabariah AR, Veerasekaran N, Lin HP

Leuk Lymphoma, 2005 Aug;46(8):1233-7.
PMID: 16085568

We report the clinical features and in vitro chemosensitivity assay findings of a 13-year-old girl who developed secondary B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) 7 years after a diagnosis of Wilms' tumor. The patient was treated using the Berlin - Frankfurt - Muenster (BFM) ALL chemotherapy protocol with poor response to initial therapy before succumbing to sepsis. An in vitro chemosensitivity assay on her peripheral blood lymphoblasts was performed while she was undergoing induction therapy and showed a high level of resistance to drugs commonly used for ALL therapy, e.g. steroids, anthracyclines, vincristine and L-asparaginase. The mechanism of chemoresistance was not elicited, but was probably not related to P-glycoprotein (P-gp) over-expression. We believe that the in vitro chemosensitivity assay is a good indicator of cellular response to chemotherapy and may provide reliable information for the basis of the selection of drugs to be used for the treatment of similarly rare patients rather than relying on "standard" protocols.
A case of childhood hepatitis B virus infection related primary hepatocellular carcinoma with short malignant transformation time

Cheah PL, Looi LM, Lin HP, Yap SF

Pathology, 1991 Jan;23(1):66-8.
PMID: 1648195

A case of primary hepatocellular carcinoma (PHC) developing in a 10 year old boy who contracted Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the course of maintenance phase chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia was seen at University Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. This case is of interest in that it (1) supports an etiological relationship between HBV infection and PHC, (2) manifested a distinctly short malignant transformation time, and (3) draws attention to the possible contributory role of chemotherapy in increasing the risk of developing PHC.
Bone marrow transplantation in Malaysia

Lin HP, Chan LL, Tan A, Ariffin WA, Lam SK

Bone Marrow Transplant, 1994 Jun;13(6):725-9.
PMID: 7920303

The sole BMT centre in Malaysia caters only for children. Since 1987, 89 transplants have been performed using reverse barrier nursing techniques. The overall survival rate is 73% with the majority of survivors leading normal lives. The early and late infection rates of 46% and 13%, respectively, are comparable to those of other centres. Although the early septicaemia rate is 36% the immediate mortality rate is < 10%. GVHD is less frequent and severe and the interstitial pneumonitis rate lower than that in the West. The average cost of US $8000 per transplant is much lower than the cost of a transplant performed overseas. Thus we believe that our paediatric BMT programme is simple and cost-effective.

Filters

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links