Cancer in childhood is uncommon. Out of 10,000 normal children, one will develop cancer during their childhood. The initial diagnosis can be frightening and stressful for child and his/her parents. These emotions are not out of place and quite understandable but they are also compounded by lack of information as well as some misconceptions. In most cases, there is no specific reason or cause for the child to have developed cancer as it is no one’s fault, so parents should not feel ashamed or guilty. The good news is that all childhood cancers are treatable and most are curable.
Malignancies such as Bone tumors, Lymphoma and Leukemia are quite common and highly prevalent in children. Fortis hospitals provides comprehensive care for all the subsites of childhood cancers to ensure an efficient treatment for children.
Recognising the special needs of children with cancer, our hospitals have created designated areas for Paediatric patients. There is a special clinic for children in the outpatient department which is manned by Paediatric Nurses. We have a dedicated team of experts in the field of Paediatric Oncology, who is adept and vastly experienced at handeling paediatric cases.
Understanding the fear of needles amongst children, we use central vascular access devices like PICC line, Hickman Line and Portacath. These devices make the oncology treatment among children, painless to a large extent. Entire blood sampling can be done through these devices and the whole range of IV medications can also be given through these devices.
Paediatric oncologists diagnose a child's cancer by doing a complete physical examination and certain tests to identify the specific type of cancer. This is called as "Confirmatory Testing" which may include bone marrow examination, biopsy etc depending upon the cancer suspected. Thereafter, a series of tests are done to determine the burden of cancer. This is called as "Staging". For this, several investigations are done like:
- Blood and Urine Tests
- Imaging with ultrasound, MRI, CT scan or PET CT scan – based on the disease type
- Bone Marrow examination and lumbar puncture
It is most important to get the correct diagnosis so that right treatment can be given to the child. Though not all tests are done on every child and what is performed depends on the type of cancer suspected. For most of these tests, the child is sedated so that he/she may not move or feel any pain. For sedation child need to be brought empty stomach or fasting for 4 to 6 hours and the sedation is usually given by the PICU team under full precautions. The results may take 3-5 days to come back so this is explained to the parents. The treatment is started after complete evaluation and discussion with parents in details regarding the further plan to treatment, prognosis and possible complications.
- We provide a strong backup of on-site paediatric ICU as well as other speciality services like paediatric cardiology, paediatric nephrology, paediatric neurology, paediatric endocrinology, paediatric gastro-enterology and others.
- We closely work with our paediatric ICU and anesthesia colleagues to provide sedation and immobilisation of the child (when needed) for diagnostic procedures (MRI, PET CT, bone marrow examinations, etc.) as well as for therapeutic reasons (planning and delivery of radiotherapy, intrathecal chemotherapy, etc.)
- All our patients are discussed in several multidisciplinary tumour boards every week including dedicated musculoskeletal tumour boards and brain tumour boards.
- We provide patient-centred care with dedicated staff to support the patient and families psychological and social needs.