Archive for cancer
Crista forms lifelong friendship with her cancer doctor
It’s impossible not to notice the connection between Crista Cardillo and Dr. Kim Stegmaier. The way they laugh and swap stories might make you think they grew up down the street from one another. But their friendship began differently than most: as patient and oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center. When Crista was ... Read More
Bone cancer surgery: A difficult choice
Nolan and Natasha might never have met if they hadn’t been diagnosed with bone cancer. Nolan, 13, is a natural athlete who lives in Maine. Natasha, 11, lives in Rhode Island and loves music and theater. As kids go, the two are pretty different — except for their osteosarcoma diagnoses and the surgery to remove ... Read More
Diving into the dark side of ependymoma
Mariella Filbin, MD, PhD, a neuro-oncologist at Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, is driven by a desire to find new therapies for some of the hardest-to-treat pediatric brain tumors. At the core of her work is an effort to uncover the events that shape tumor development. Key takeaways:· Aggressive ependymoma tumors are stuck ... Read More
Monitoring for breast cancer after childhood chest radiation: When and how?
Chest radiation is used to treat children with Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma as well as lung metastases in various solid tumors. But radiation itself is a potential cancer risk. That includes an increased risk for breast cancer later in life. Girls receiving chest radiation for childhood cancer face a breast cancer risk as high as ... Read More
Guidance for assessing treatment response in pediatric brain tumors
Assessing patients’ response to cancer therapy can be challenging, especially in neuro-oncology. Generally, we assess treatment response by a change in tumor size on MRI scan. However, with brain tumors, changes on MRI scan can be difficult to interpret. A decrease in tumor size may indicate treatment is having an effect; however, a drug can ... Read More
Racism and children’s health: What providers need to know
It’s easy to feel outdone by racism, especially as the country cycles through stages of tragedy, awareness, and inertia. But with renewed attention to violence against Black people in recent weeks, many health care providers are asking themselves hard questions: Can we create a better world for the next generation?Can the call for racial justice lead ... Read More
Racism is a health issue: How it affects kids, what parents can do
Racism has once again gained national attention. Following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, people around the world are taking a stand against race-based inequality and violence. But even after it fades from the news cycle, racism will remain present in the lives of children. How children experience racism Racism can ... Read More
Cancer and COVID-19: Ethics guidelines for resource allocation
Main findings: Hospitals should create guidelines in advance to ensure cancer patients are fairly represented in possible resource allocation decisions — in COVID-19 and other emergencies.A cancer diagnosis should be considered as any other underlying health condition.Decisions about distributing limited resources should not be made by a patient’s physician. As the COVID-19 pandemic began surging ... Read More
Cancer won’t stop me, and neither will COVID-19
Most people my age look at COVID-19 as a burden on their everyday lives of seeing friends, hanging out, and going to college. I see it differently. As an active cancer patient being treated for T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), I am immunocompromised. This puts me at especially high risk for contracting COVID-19, and my ... Read More
Adults with cancer appear more vulnerable to COVID-19
Cancer, particularly metastatic cancer, can be added to the list of medical conditions that pose a significant risk of worse COVID-19 outcomes , suggests a new study. Led by Boston Children’s Hospital and Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, it represents the first large cohort study to examine COVID-19 outcomes in cancer patients. Findings were published ... Read More