News & Events

April 4, 2022

We did not observe a statistically significant change in the ASIRs of childhood cancer during the first 9 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada compared with the period before the pandemic. Moreover, enrolment in clinical trials remained stable, and we did not observe an increase in the proportion of patients with metastatic disease or early mortality. Although these results are reassuring, continued surveillance is necessary to ascertain potential long-term negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among children with cancer.

March 9, 2022

Brain cancer is the most common type of solid cancer in children, and can be notoriously difficult to target with interventions such as chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery. But the work of Brain Canada-funded researchers is shedding new light into our ability to treat this pernicious childhood illness.

December 28, 2021

The Holidays are dubbed the most wonderful time of the year. Yet, every year hundreds of sick children will spend the festive season at The Children’s, away from the warmth of family and friends. They are too ill to leave the hospital even for a few hours.

December 10, 2021

A new study has found no significant change in the number of new cancer diagnoses in Canadian children during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting health-care restrictions imposed at that time did not lead to delayed diagnoses.

November 30, 2021

A new paper in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shares findings from the largest registry of United States children with cancer who were diagnosed with COVID-19. Based on records from 917 children being treated at 94 United States institutions, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and colleagues found that “children with cancer and COVID-19 are at risk of having severe infection and having their cancer therapy modified” because of COVID infection, the authors write.

November 23, 2021

While other toddlers her age are focused on learning to walk and talk, two-year-old Maddison Chavez Espinosa’s milestones look little different.

On Monday, for example, she was cheered on by the oncology department at Sainte-Justine Children’s Hospital to celebrate finishing chemotherapy. Maddison has spent most of her short life in hospital, learning to cope with surgeries, and numerous treatments, all because of a brain tumor.

November 11, 2021

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) researchers have published the first clinical management guidelines for patients with a rare and aggressive childhood brain tumour, based on a study of the largest cohort of patients with ETMR in the world. The study was published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health on September 29, 2021.

November 11, 2021

Philippe Villeneuve is recovering from his 28th and — fingers crossed — final round of chemotherapy for bone cancer. He and his family were taking stock of a tumultuous year Monday at the Montreal Children’s Hospital.

August 12, 2021

Although chemotherapy is the standard treatment for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and has made it one of the most survivable childhood cancers, the chemotherapy drug class thiopurines can cause mutations that result in relapse. The findings were published in Nature Cancer.