Renal involvement in children with malignancies

Renal complications in children with malignancies primarily arise from renal parenchymal tumors, "tumor lysis syndrome," and malignant infiltration or obstruction of the urinary tract. Therapy-associated renal side effects may develop following surgical and cytostatic treatment or be induced by radiotherapy. Clinically, both acute renal failure, for example following cisplatin, or chronic dysfunction, following ifosfamide and resulting in growth failure, are observed. Frequencies of renal impairment in these patients are, however, not well established, but terminal renal failure is a rare event: pediatric malignancies account for only 0.9% of patients on renal replacement therapy; the majority of these patients had been treated for a bilateral nephroblastoma. Since potentially serious long-term renal sequelae may evolve following both single measures and additive nephrotoxic effects, long-term monitoring of growth, blood pressure, and renal function is mandatory for a great proportion of former pediatric oncology patients. Future research should prospectively address frequencies of long-term renal impairment in these patients and should establish the prognosis of renal dysfunction. Only these data will ultimately allow risk-adopted use of potentially nephrotoxic treatment modalities and adequate counselling of patients.