Pediatric Oncology: Working Towards Better Treatment through Evidence-Based Research
Pediatric oncology is working towards better treatment. The most significant credit goes to the time and resources used to research the cancer-related ailments that affect children. Survival rates for pediatric cancer patients have increased, and their survival has triggered the need for more treatment methods and studies on the effects of cancer therapy. Research centers such as John Hopkins University have been on the front line in elaborating various ways of saving lives from the cancer menace. Another crucial institution for curing and fighting childhood cancer is St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which conducts different clinical trials and offers intense care for patients. Blood disorders and cancer have become rampant among children worldwide, and specialists in the medical department are to make sure that they give the right treatment and care to decrease mortality rates. Globally, there are unmeasurable efforts by the pathology departments, orthopedics, and therapeutic radiologists to secure that blood disorders and cancer in people under 18 years are neutralized. Through the research, it has been found that more than a hundred and seventy thousand children are diagnosed with cancer, and 96,000 kids succumb to different types of cancer. In developed countries, the mortality rate is low, accounting for less than 20%, whereas, in less developed states, the mortality rate of children who suffer from cancer-related diseases is more than 80%. Therefore, evidence-based research in pediatric oncology enhances the technology that aids in solving problems of diagnosing cancer in children.
Significance of the Evidence-Based Research
Nevertheless, there is a need for more extensive evidence-based research on childhood cancer; the main goal is saving lives. The types of cancer that are most common in the young ones are leukemia, which is the most rampant kind, then it is followed by brain tumors, as well as lymphomas, which are the least common. In the United States, 5 out of 100,000 children are diagnosed with leukemia before age 20. One out of those five kids dies from leukemia. Juniors between the ages of 1 and 4 were observed to have new cancer cases, whereas juveniles between the ages of 10 and 14 recorded the highest number of pediatric cancer deaths. Besides, there are other less common types of childhood cancer, such as retinoblastoma, Wilms’ tumor that affects the kidney, osteosarcoma, which affects the bones, and Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which affects the blood.
Nevertheless, positive outcomes will be produced when more evidence-based research is undertaken on childhood cancer. The strides made by the research programs cannot distract from the fact that over 10,000 children in the United States 15 will be diagnosed with cancer this year. However, the significance of the research has been a reliable pillar in overcoming the cancer problem.
Literature Review
One of the evidence-based researches was conducted in 2014 when the experts investigated evidence-based recommendations regarding fertility preservation options and treatment procedures for adolescents diagnosed with cancer. The researchers noted that the long-term effects were not considered when chemotherapy was introduced to fight cancer cells. Moreover, it was proved that cancer therapies have negative sustainable implications on other body organs and adverse influence on the reproductive system. When chemotherapy was discovered to have saved many lives, the attention was diverted to the fact that it could cause more harm than good. That is why Alison and her team decided to elaborate on better ways to provide safer chemotherapy for teenagers. Family members have reported that patients that had cancer in their childhood are infertile in their old age. This is because when the gonads are exposed to radiation emitted during chemotherapy, the reproductive system becomes affected, thus leading to infertility. However, a big challenge is faced by the specialist when giving fertility preservation counseling to adolescents with cancer and determining the ones at risk of losing their fertility because of age, sex and available resources for treatment.
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