News in pediatric oncology

How Hayley Arceneaux Became the World’s First Pediatric Cancer Survivor to Visit Space

On September 15, 2021, Hayley Arceneaux rocketed into orbit around the earth on the first all-civilian orbital space mission. The crew successfully water-landed three days later. As if that wasn’t epic enough, Hayley made even more history by becoming the youngest American to orbit the Earth, the first pediatric cancer survivor in space, and the first person to launch into space with a prosthetic body part.

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Hockey dream comes true in Montreal for teen battling leukemia

Thirteen-year-old Jules Aouizerate has been playing hockey for most of his life. Aouizerate, who was diagnosed with leukemia four years ago, lives in France but always dreamed of coming to Canada because of his love for the sport. That dream came true this week thanks to Team Canada’s Men’s Masters Hockey team. The teen made the journey to Montreal to train with the pros and meet his hockey heroes.

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Brain cancer: serious consequences for young survivors

From neurological problems to hearing loss and infertility, survivors of medulloblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, are left with severe physical and cognitive impairments and have an overall mortality rate 21 times higher than the general population. These findings are from a new study led by Dr. Hallie Coltin, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist and researcher at CHU Sainte-Justine and assistant clinical professor at Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine.

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Researchers inch closer to better understanding of brain tumours in children

ertain brain cells may be inherently vulnerable to the kinds of mutations that cause fatal brain tumours in children and young adults, says a study whose international research team was co-led by a principal investigator at the Lady Davis Institute (LDI). The findings, recently published in the journal Nature Genetics, represent a significant advance in understanding the development of tumours known as high-grade gliomas. This could be significant in the design of clinical trials for new types of therapy.

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Incidence of childhood cancer in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic

We did not observe a statistically significant change in the ASIRs of childhood cancer during the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada compared with the period before the pandemic. Moreover, enrolment in clinical trials remained stable, and we did not observe an increase in the proportion of patients with metastatic disease or early mortality. Although these results are reassuring, continued surveillance is necessary to ascertain potential long-term negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among children with cancer.

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