Single Institution Experience on Cancer Among Adolescents 15-19 Years of Age

Abstract

Adolescent cancers differ from other age groups in terms of cancer types, treatment and outcome. We aimed to present our institutional data on survival of certain types of cancer in adolescents. Hospital files were retrospectively evaluated for distribution of tumor types, clinical features, and overall and event-free survival (OS and EFS) rates in adolescents with malignant tumors. Two hundred ninety-three cases between 15-19 years who were diagnosed with malignant tumor at our department in the last 38 years were included in the study. Mean age was 15.3 and median age was 15 years at time of diagnosis. Male/female ratio was found to be 1.8/1. The most common cancers were non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (20.5%), Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) (19.8%), central nervous system (CNS) tumors (10.9%), osteosarcoma (10.6%), Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors (EWN/PNET (9.9%) nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) (9.6%). Non-compliance to medical treatment was observed in 10.9% of cases with significantly high noncompliance in NHL and osteosarcoma (p=0.02). Overall survival was 57.6% and EFS was 45.7% at a median follow-up time of 8.75 years. In adolescents, lower OS and EFS rates than the younger age group are observed. The most appropriate management plan should be made according to the physical and psychosocial needs of patients in this age group.