Medical interventions for cancer treatment-induced symptoms in children: an overview

Childhood cancer accounts for 0.5 to 4.6% of the total number of cases in any population. According to the treatment, some side effects are present. Most adverse reactions can cause severe consequences for the survival of the patient. The more effective interventions for the management and the prevention of treatment-induced symptoms (TIS) in children with cancer are necessary to know. The objective of this review was to identify and describe available scientific evidence on the efficacy and safety of interventions used for the management and prevention of TIS in children with cancer.

We conducted a systematic review of the literature on studies that evaluated or described the effectiveness of interventions used for the management and prevention of TIS in children with cancer in some of the major electronic databases. Results were qualitative synthesized and presented as evidence tables.

We identified eight systematic reviews. The revisions included experimental studies. All participants, including children and adults, were patients diagnosed with some cancer about to receive or that received treatment.

The results showed only a reduced number of clinical trials that have evaluated the interventions for the management of TIS in children with cancer. In addition, the available evidence was limited and of poor quality. It is necessary to conduct more clinical trials with good methodological quality and high statistical power.