Current Research

Research for childhood cancer is ongoing. New developments occur often because many children are enrolled in clinical trials. The Children’s Oncology Group Childhood Cancer Survivor Study conducts large clinical trials for most pediatric cancers. The Childhood Cancer Survivor Study conducts long-term, follow-up studies of successfully treated patients to determine the late effects of cancer and its treatment, so new treatments can be developed to avoid serious side effects. Other groups, including the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy Consortium, perform studies of drugs for specific types of cancer to determine whether new treatments are safe and effective.

The following advances that may still be under investigation in clinical trials are common to most types of cancer and may not be approved or available at this time. Always discuss all diagnostic and treatment options with your child’s doctor.

Reducing a child’s exposure to radiation. Because children have an increased risk of developmental damage and secondary cancers from radiation therapy, doctors prefer to minimize radiation treatments whenever possible. To accomplish this goal, doctors may use chemotherapy with a combination of drugs after surgery or use new drug combinations. And, researchers are investigating new techniques that more precisely focus radiation treatment at the tumor and not the surrounding healthy tissue.

Better management of the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. For example, a drug called pegfilgrastim (Neulasta) may help patients produce more white blood cells after radiation treatment and chemotherapy. Doctors are also studying chemoprotective drugs that may help protect the body from the harmful effects of chemotherapy, especially mucositis (mouth sores).

Additional information on areas of current research for a certain type of cancer can be found in the specific Cancer.Net Guide to Cancer for that cancer type.