Where Kids with Cancer Are Treated

Childhood or pediatric cancer affects 12,500 children each year in the US. There are 12 major types: leukemias and cancers of the brain and central nervous system account for more than half of childhood cancers. Most young cancer patients are treated in children’s hospitals or cancer centers specializing in treating the whole child and the complications life-threatening illnesses include. Working Mother asked some of the leading facilities across America to describe their work and share with us some of the special stories about their professional staffs and families.
Edited by Helen Jonsen with Leigh Ann Renzulli

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

The Cancer Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Treating close to 800 new patients each year, The Cancer Center is one of the largest pediatric cancer programs in the nation, providing patients and families access to the most advanced and innovative treatments for all types of childhood cancer. As home to one of the largest pediatric cancer research programs in the U.S., we have the ability to move scientific advances quickly into clinical therapies, giving patients access to more than 180 clinical trials.

Younger patients, who are still growing, respond differently to chemotherapy, transplantation and surgery than do adults, and our staff is trained specifically in diagnosis, state-of-the art imaging and treatment strategies for this population.

Our Clinical Programs
•   The world’s leading treatment center for neuroblastoma, the most common pediatric solid tumor outside the brain
•   One of the largest pediatric blood and marrow transplantation (BMT) programs in the U.S.
•   One of the largest brain tumor centers in the U.S.
•   The nation’s first pediatric cancer survivorship program, to monitor for late effects and promote health after recovery from cancer
•   A unique program for hereditary cancers
•   One of the most comprehensive palliative care programs in the U.S.
•   Home to one of the world’s first proton beam therapy services devoted exclusively to pediatric patients, allowing highly targeted treatment of childhood cancers.

Our Research Enterprise Informs our Care Options
•   The Cancer Center is at the forefront of research and development of new therapies to treat pediatric leukemias, brain tumors, neuroblastomas and other cancers.
•   Our clinical trials focus not only on cancer treatments, but also on prevention and treatment of the physical and psychological complications of those therapies.
•   Unique to CHOP, many of our physician-scientists have leadership roles within the national pediatric cancer research collaborative called Children’s Oncology Group. They lead disease-specific strategy groups and biology studies in leukemia, neuroblastoma, sarcomas, and developmental therapeutics and conduct research in cancer survivorship and supportive care.