News in pediatric oncology

Hope for children with brain cancer

Brain cancer is the most common type of solid cancer in children, and can be notoriously difficult to target with interventions such as chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. But the work of Brain Canada-funded researchers is shedding new light into our ability to treat this pernicious childhood illness.

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Study provides ‘critical information’ for treating childhood cancer patients with COVID

A new paper in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shares findings from the largest registry of United States children with cancer who were diagnosed with COVID-19. Based on records from 917 children being treated at 94 United States institutions, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues found that “children with cancer and COVID-19 are at risk of having severe infection and having their cancer therapy modified” because of COVID infection, the authors write.

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Hospital celebrates ‘very brave’ Quebec toddler who finished lengthy chemotherapy

While other toddlers her age are focused on learning to walk and talk, two-year-old Maddison Chavez Espinosa’s milestones look little different.

On Monday, for example, she was cheered on by the oncology department at Sainte-Justine Children’s Hospital to celebrate finishing chemotherapy. Maddison has spent most of her short life in hospital, learning to cope with surgeries, and numerous treatments, all because of a brain tumor.

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Largest international study of rare childhood brain cancer shows early molecular diagnosis and aggressive therapy could improve patient outcomes

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) researchers have published the first clinical management guidelines for patients with a rare and aggressive childhood brain tumour, based on a study of the largest cohort of patients with ETMR in the world. The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health on September 29, 2021.

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New research shows children with blood cancer at low risk of severe COVID-19 disease

Research published in the British Medical Journal’s Archives of Disease in Childhood has shown that children with haematological malignancies (blood cancers) are at no higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease than children with other types of cancer. Previously published research from this project had shown that overall, children with cancer were at no higher risk of severe disease as a result of infection by the SARS-CoV2 virus than healthy children.

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