7 updates for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a campaign to spotlight the types of cancer that largely affect children, draw attention to survivorship issues, and raise funds for research and family support.

In the United States, more than 15,000 children aged younger than 21 years are diagnosed with cancer every year, and approximately one in four do not survive, according to the American Childhood Cancer Organization.

This month, organizations and institutions are raising awareness by sharing stories from survivors and clinicians and facilitating events to raise money.

In conjunction with the awareness month, HemOnc Today has compiled a list of seven studies of childhood cancer treatment options, survivorship concerns and health disparities.

Children’s Oncology Group developed a checklist nurses can follow to help educate parents whose children have been diagnosed with cancer. READ MORE.
Patients who underwent blood or marrow transplantation during childhood remained at greater risk for death up to 25 years later compared with the general population. READ MORE.
A clinical trial is underway to examine the role of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for children and young adults with relapsed or refractory HER-2-positive central nervous system tumors. READ MORE.
Intensifying therapy significantly improved OS and reduced the risk for relapse among children with childhood B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and IKZF1 deletion. READ MORE.
Interventions are needed to address the interrupted psychosocial and psychological developments associated with cancer treatment and late effects among survivors of childhood cancer. READ MORE.
A risk-adapted approach may help some children with medulloblastoma avoid radiation and chemotherapy. READ MORE.
Socioeconomic status mediated racial and ethnic survival disparities for several childhood cancers, including acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, neuroblastoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. READ MORE.