Annual Report 2001 - The Hospital for Sick Children

faculty Oussama Abla, Maureen Andrew, Sylvain Baruchel, Victor Blanchette,
Eric Bouffet, Manuel Carcao, Helen Chan, David Dix, John Doyle, Yigal Dror,
Melvin Freedman, Ron Grant, Mark Greenberg, Hans Hitzler, Meredith Irwin,
Melanie Kirby, David Malkin, Patricia Massicotte, Ahmed Naqvi, Alberto Pappo,
Nancy Olivieri, Fred Saunders, Sheila Weitzman part-time Ibrahim Al-Hashmi,
Anthony Chan, Robert Lau, Aubrey Maze fellows Ibraheem Abosoudah,
Mohammed Al-Bakrah, Ebsebtesam Al-Oniezi, Khulood Al-Saad, Michael Capra,
Pimlak Charoenkwan, Lionel Chow, Manuel Diezi, Adam Gassas, Darren Hargrave,
Annie Huang, Anthony Juwah, Stefan Kuhle, Loretta Lau, Elaine Leung,
Alexander Liaschko, Aru Narendran, Paul Nathan, Shoshanna Revel-Vilk,
Marcus Schmugge, Anjali Sharathkumar, MacGregor Steele, Lillian Sung
The hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplantation
(BMT) cluster provides care for children with cancer and
non-malignant disorders of the blood, and children who
require stem-cell transplantation. Approximately 300
children (< 18 years of age) with newly diagnosed
cancer are registered in the pediatric oncology program
each year, representing 25% of all cases of pediatric
cancer seen in Canada annually. The BMT program is
the designated centre for pediatric stem-cell
transplantation in Ontario and have performed a total
of 70 transplants in the past year. Other very large
programs exist in bleeding and clotting disorders and in
the hemoglobinopathies e.g. sickle cell syndromes and
the thalassemias. The Division is one of the largest
institutional members of the Children's Oncology
Group (COG), and registered a total of 72 children on
COG initiated cooperative clinical trials in 2001,
representing a doubling of patient enrollment over
previous years and signalling a deliberate strategy to
enter, wherever possible, children with cancer on welldesigned
clinical trials.
Highlights of the past year include reorganization of the
cluster into five clinical sections under the leadership of
Dr. Victor Blanchette (hematology), Dr. John Doyle
(BMT), Dr. Eric Bouffet (neuroOncology), Dr. Alberto
Pappo (solid tumors) and Dr. Sheila Weitzman
(lymphoma/ leukemia). Dr. Alberto Pappo, a senior
pediatric oncologist with a career interest in pediatric
sarcomas, was recruited to the Division from St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital during the past year. Other
new physician recruits include Dr. Ahmed Naqvi
(clinician specialist) and three clinician
scientists/scientist-track physicians: Dr Eyal Grunebaum
(BMT) and Drs. Meredith Irwin and Annie Huang
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Division of HAEMATOLOGY/ONCOLOGY
(pediatric oncology). Dr. Annie Huang, a member of the
NeuroOncology Section is one of the first two recipients
of awards in translational cancer research from the
Charles H. Hollenberg Translational Research Fund, a
partnership of Cancer Care Ontario, the CIHR and Eli
Lilly Canada.
The Division boasts an active international
clinical/research pediatric hematology/ oncology
fellowship program with 23 fellows in 2001. Research in
the Division is active and expanding. Highlights
included Canada Foundation for Innovation Awards to
Drs. David Malkin (Cancer Genetics) and Sylvain
Baruchel (New Agents and Innovative Therapies
Program), and a CIHR Award to Dr. Yigal Dror for basic
science studies in children with myelodysplasias and
rare pediatric bone marrow failure syndromes.
publications
Al-Kasim FA, Thornley I, Rolland M, Lau W, Tsang R, Freedman MH,
Saunders EF, Calderwood S, Doyle JJ: Single-centre experience with
allongeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute lymphoblastic
leukaemia in childhood: similar survival after matched-related and
matched-unrelated donor transplants. British Journal of
Haematology: 2002: 116: 483-490.
Allen U, Hebert D, Moore D, Dror Y, Wasfy S: Epstein-Barr virusrelated
post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease in solid organ
transplant recipients, 1988-97 a Canadian multicentre experience.
Pediatric Transplant: 2001: 5: 198-203.
Allen UD, Tellier R, Doyle J, Petric M, Wasfy S, Kumar P, Calderwood
S, Freedman M, Saunders F: The utility of plasma polymerase chain
reaction for human herpes virus-6 among pediatric bone marrow
transplant recipients: results of a pilot study. Bone Marrow
Transplantation: 2001: 28: 473-477.
Anton N, Massicotte P: Venous Thromboembolism in Pediatrics.
Seminars in Vascular Medicine: 2001: 1: 111-122.
Athale UH, Shurtleff S, Jenkins JJ, Poquette CA, Tan M, Downing JR,
Pappo AS: Use of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for
diagnosis and staging of alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing's
sarcoma family of tumors, and desmoplastic small round cell tumor.
Journal of Pediatric Hematology Oncology: 2001: 23: 99-104.
Barash J, Pirogovski A, Livneh A, Brezniak N, Dror Y, Hahn T:
Colchicine treatment in familial Mediterranean fever: an indirect
effect on in vitro serum amyloid A secretion via leukocyte derived
factors. Clin Exp Rheumatol: 2001: 19: S76.
Bouffet E: Embryonal tumours of the central nervous system.
European Journal of Cancer: 2002: 38: 112-1120.
Carcao MD, Blanchette VS, Stephens D, He L, Wakefield CD, Butchart
S, Christie DJ, Rand ML: Assessment of thrombocytopenic disorders
using the platelet function analyzer (PFA-100). British Journal of
Haematology: 2002: 117: 947-951.
Carlotti CG, Salhia B, Weitzman S, Greenberg M, Dirks PB, Mason W,
Becker LE, Rutka JT: Evaluation of proliferative index and cell cycle
protein expression in choroid plexus tumors in children. Acta
Neuropathologica: 2002: 103: 1-10.