Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Clinical discussions on pediatric blood disorders, childhood cancers, and specialized treatment protocols.
Recent Discussions
How do you approach and manage anorexia and appetite loss in people with advanced cancer?
Anorexia/cachexia is often distressing to patients and families and it is this distress that is the target of many of the interventions for this syndrome as there are, in general, no effective therapies. Patients and families are routinely battling over the lack of eating as this causes further disc...
How do you approach cardiac surveillance in an asymptomatic adult who received anthracycline-based chemotherapy for a childhood cancer and presents to you without an active survivorship program?
At our children's hospital, we are not allowed to follow patients >23 years old if they were not diagnosed and treated at our institution. However, we do offer a 1 time courtesy consultation in the survivor clinic. We request roadmaps and create a treatment summary for the patient, perform a history...
Do you routinely screen and replace Vitamin D in patients with ITP?
I do not generally screen for vitamin D deficiency in ITP patients, but do recommend that all patients undergo routine screening as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (pediatric provider) and have vitamin D deficiency identified and managed as appropriate for age in general, regardles...
What diagnostic workup is recommended when immune thrombocytopenia is present in multiple family members?
Genetic testing and confirmation that this is indeed immune thrombocytopenia and not a familial thrombocytopenia syndrome.
What is the recommended fungal workup in an immunocompromised patient after 5 days of persistent fever?
For any patient with fevers, I focus significantly on any symptoms that a patient might have, like headache, diarrhea, and sinus symptoms, and work up a differential diagnosis based on possible pathogens in this area. If I am not finding anything, I would obtain a CT chest/abd/pelvis, as both invasi...
What is your preferred frontline regimen for metastatic unresectable fibrolamellar carcinoma in an AYA patient?
We have successfully used GEMOX-LEN along with multidisciplinary locoregional tumor debulking to convert more than 50% of unresectable stage IV FLC to definitive R0 resection and surgical remission, nearly 100% achieving 0.00 circulating tumor DNA (we use Signatera): Ginters et al., GI Cancer Trial...
What would be your next line of therapy for a pediatric patient with T-ALL in first relapse who has not received a transplant?
These patients can be challenging to bring into remission, and a multi-agent salvage regimen should be considered. If the patient has not previously received nelarabine, it should be incorporated; re-treatment may also be considered in select cases. During the first cycle, dasatinib may be added in ...
Where do you anticipate positioning Mim8 (denecimig) alongside existing options within your hemophilia A prophylaxis approach, assuming regulatory approval (FRONTIER2)?
It is hard to say at this point, but I suspect it will be similar to emicizumab - i.e., it will be more frequently than the currently available rebalancing agents. What remains to be seen is if it will replace emicizumab by way of better perceived efficacy or only if someone is deemed to have "faile...
What is your approach to screening a cancer survivor for iron overload, and what is your treatment of choice?
We check the ferritin level after completion of chemotherapy. If ferritin is >1,000 ng/ml, we recheck the level as it can be falsely elevated with inflammation/infection. If ferritin is >1,000, we obtain a liver MRI with iron quantification. If liver iron concentration (LIC) is > 5 mg/g dry weight, ...
Do you discuss fertility preservation options with all pediatric oncology patients at the time of diagnosis, and if not, what determines who and when you discuss options?
Yes. We now have a formal fertility preservation program in our institution that was started by and is based in our oncology division. The goal is to discuss fertility preservation options with all patients at the time of diagnosis, regardless of age or prognosis.