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Pediatric / Childhood Cancers

Cancer occurs when cells in a part of the body begin to grow out of control. Normal cells divide and grow in an orderly fashion, but cancer cells do not. They continue to grow and crowd out normal cells. Although there are many kinds of cancer, they all have in common this out-of-control growth of cells.

Childhood or pediatric cancer refers to cancers occuring in people less than twenty years of age. According to the National Cancer Institute, 17 percent of children and adolescents under the age of 20 diagnosed with cancer had invasive brain and nervous system cancers. The next most common diagnosis was acute lymphocytic leukemia.

The Childhood Cancer Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center

The Childhood Cancer Program treats patients with pediatric solid tumors, including neuroblastomas, rhabdomyosarcomas, Wilm's tumors and brain tumors, as well as patients with lymphomas, leukemias and other childhood cancers. The program also offers clinics for patients with coagulation disorders and sickle cell anemia. The program also offers clinics for patients with coagulation disorders and sickle cell anemia. The U-M has the largest pediatric oncology research effort in Michigan. Studies are ongoing to better understand genetic mechanisms underlying neuroblastoma, acute leukemia and brain tumors. Other studies are directed toward improving patients' own defenses against cancer. The U-M program is one of only a few in the United States to hold a training grant in Pediatric Hematology, which allows the program to train future academicians in clinical care and research involving childhood hematologic and oncologic diseases.

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