Pediatric AIDS: a perspective for the oncologist

By the mid 1990s the number of newly diagnosed children with HIV infections in the US may rival the 6,500 children diagnosed with cancer each year. But recent developments in therapy for the child with AIDS offer some hope. A pediatric trial at the NCI used a continuous infusion of azidothymidine in order to achieve the desired blood and cerebrospinal fluid levels. Objective and subjective evidence of response to therapy was noted in all patients who presented with neurodevelopmental deficit. Increases in appetite and weight gain and reductions in lymphadenopathy and hepatosplenomegaly, and increases in CD4 count similar to those observed in adults were apparent. Promising preliminary results have also been seen in trials of dideoxycytidine, dideoxyinosine, and recombinant CD4.