Assorted news from the last two weeks: CAC2 Member blog post:  “Diagnostic delays may be improved with targeted programs. The HeadSmart program, a web-based national awareness campaign in the United Kingdom decreased time to diagnosis for pediatric brain tumors by half (3). HeadSmart included partnering with parents via “safety netting.” When symptoms did not lead to an immediate diagnosis, plans were made with the patient/parent about next steps if the problem did not resolve. This included return visits within a given time and specialist referrals if symptoms persisted or worsened.” Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have found a […]

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Assorted news from the last two weeks: Cures for many rare diseases might already exist. Why aren’t we using them? Patient advocacy groups have long helped researchers find participants for clinical trials and consulted with regulators on pressing needs for their constituents. But they must now play a more active, integral, and permanent role in accelerating — and funding — tomorrow’s innovations. "She died. Our world fractured. It wasn’t so much that we became suddenly, brutally, a family of three. It was more like we unbecame a family of four." The Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of [...] Read more

Assorted news from the last week: Children conceived via assisted reproductive technology (ART) were not at increased risk of developing cancer later on, according to results of a prospective study. More than a third of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors reported being hesitant about vaccination against COVID-19 in a survey conducted in Utah and surrounding Mountain West states. The FDA approved a recombinant form of a key component of a chemotherapy regimen for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer.  The approval of recombinant asparaginase erwinia chrysanthemi-rywn (Rylaze) encompasses treatment regimens for adults and pediatric patients […]

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Assorted news from the last week: U.S. News & World Report released this year’s rankings of the top pediatric cancer hospitals in the United States. National Cancer Institute Director Ned E. Sharpless assesses how far we’ve come in the fight against cancer in 50 years and how much further we can go in the next 50. New research uncovers substantial differences in rates of childhood cancers when considering single year of age rather than grouping several years together. Study suggests that the chemotherapy regimen used for treating high risk neuroblastoma patients by the European Neuroblastoma Study Group is equally efficacious […]

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Assorted news from the last week: In a new study led by Yale Cancer Center researchers, neuromuscular dysfunction is found to be prevalent in long-term childhood cancer survivors, continues to increase post-therapy, and is associated with adverse health and socioeconomic outcomes. The findings were published in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Research suggests that children with average risk medulloblastoma can receive radiation to a smaller volume of the brain at the end of a six-week course of treatment and still maintain the same disease control as those receiving radiation to a larger area. But the dose of preventive radiation [...] Read more