The Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Program treats 80-100 new cancer patients a year, and also provides care for complex and challenging benign tumors as well as sickle cell disease, hemophilia, coagulation abnormalities and platelet disorders. While most pediatric cancer care is delivered on an outpatient basis, when a child's acute medical needs require hospitalization, pediatric patients are admitted to Yale New Haven Children's Hospital— which is attached to Smilow Cancer Hospital on the seventh floor by a walking bridge. The seventh floor of Smilow is devoted to pediatric oncology patients, with more than 5,000 square feet of space that includes four exam rooms, two negative- and two positive-pressure isolation rooms to help keep immunosuppressed or contagious patients healthy, a family lounge area, two consultation rooms and a dedicated infusion room.
The Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital offers the latest advances in diagnosing and treating childhood cancer and blood disorders, such as leukemia, lymphoma (Hodgkin's Disease & Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma), brain tumors, bone tumors such as osteosarcoma & Ewing's Sarcoma, solid tumors such as Wilms' tumor, neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and kidney tumors.
The Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Program is supported by a multidisciplinary clinical team of physicians and highly skilled advanced practice nurses with expertise in all aspects of care for children with cancer.
The team meets every week to develop individualized treatment plans for each patient and discuss new and current cases. A pediatric oncologist coordinates the multidisciplinary care, which can involve many services, such as pediatric diagnostic imaging, radiation oncology, laboratory medicine, pediatric surgery, pediatric neurosurgery, orthopedics, pediatric pathology and neuropathology.
While great successes in pediatric oncology have been achieved, one area that has lagged is in the treatment of brain tumors, which are among the most common type of childhood malignancy. With this great challenge in mind, our clinicians have formed a comprehensive clinic in pediatric neuro-oncology. As the only one of its kind in the state of Connecticut, it involves a collaboration of pediatric oncologists, neurologists, endocrinologists, neurosurgeons, psychologists, and social workers to care for this very complex and medically needy group of patients. In addition we are actively participating in national clinical trials for brain tumor patients as well as developing trials for more experimental therapies through brain tumor consortiums.
Yale New Haven Children's Hospital is ranked among the best in the nation in seven pediatric specialties, including pediatric cancer (#50). The results appeared in the 2020—21 edition of "Best Children's Hospitals," published online by U.S. News & World Report.
