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School of Medicine Home > Departments > Pediatrics > Hematology/Oncology |
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Discovering that a child has cancer is a devastating ordeal for the entire family. The care of a child with cancer requires medical expertise from the pediatric oncologist to diagnose the disease and then to plan and administer the best treatment. Our goal as pediatric oncologists is to coordinate the efforts of the many medical specialists, including surgeons, radiotherapists, pathologists and radiologists who work with us to help these patients. Children and parents need emotional support during the difficult time of learning about the illness and what needs to be done. Along with the other members of the health care team, we strive to create a warm and helpful environment on our hospital unit and in our outpatient clinics at LPCH. Another facet of our program is the diagnosis and treatment of children with blood cell disorders that are not due to cancer, such as hemophilia, sickle cell disease, thalessemia, anemia and inherited disorders of the white cell. Currently, approximately 70% of children with cancer will be cured of their disease. The second mission of our program is to continue to try to understand why cancers develop and to search for better treatments so that all children with cancer can be cured. Examples of studies in progress are: to determine whether new drugs will improve survival in children with osteosarcoma, to find novel ways to treat children with brain tumors, to optimize the outcome of children requiring bone marrow transplantation, to investigate possible environmental causes of childhood cancer, to learn more about the psychosocial impact of childhood cancer on the family and the best way to provide support for cancer survivors and to investigate mechanisms which allow cancer cells to escape killing by chemotherapy drugs and mechanisms of cancer cell growth to find new approaches to interrupting this cycle. Contact Division Chief: Michael Link, MD Clinic |
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