Down syndrome and Hodgkin disease in childhood

✍ Scribed by Sandoval, Claudio; Hudson, Melissa M.; Ozkaynak, M. Fevzi; Tugal, Oya; Jayabose, Somasundaram

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 59 KB
• Volume: 34
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0098-1532
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-911x(200004)34:4<304::aid-mpo23>3.0.co;2-7

✦ Synopsis

Down syndrome; Hodgkin disease; therapy; treatment complications Children with Down syndrome are at increased risk for developing acute leukemia of both the lymphoblastic and myeloid types [1]. Although the exact mechanism(s) underlying the malignant transformation are unknown, immunodeficiency and trisomy 21 may be responsible in part. Down syndrome children are not prone to develop other malignancies [2], so that when the two coincide, as they do rarely, we believe the physicians treating such children should record their experience. This is because the response to and tolerance of cancer therapy may differ from those of the general population.

It is for these reasons that we describe two children with Down syndrome and Hodgkin disease, and review two previously reported cases [3,4] in the hope that this report will further the understanding of this interesting yet uncommon combination and its management.