Pediatric Hematology Oncology
At Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital
Did you know?
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One in every 330 Americans develops cancer before the age of 20.
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This year, over 12,500 children will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States.
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In the past twenty years, the cure rate for childhood cancers has more than doubled, from
approximately 30% to about 75%.
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Despite these advances, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children after trauma.
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Although cure rates are up, the incidence of cancer continues to rise in all age, racial and ethnic
subgroup--especially in adolescents.
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The Pediatric Hematology Oncology program is a part of both Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and the
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.
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The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is one of a select group of National Cancer Institute-designated
cancer centers in the southeast and the only one in Tennessee dedicated to providing the most
promising therapies and advancing research for all types of cancer in children and adults.
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Vanderbilt Children's Hospital is the sole provider of comprehensive inpatient pediatric care in the
middle Tennessee area.
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Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital ranked 8th in the nation in Child magazine’s national survey.
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Pediatric cancer services at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital ranked 7th in the nation in Child
magazine’s national survey.
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Last year, approximately 135 children with newly diagnosed cancer received their care at Vanderbilt
Children’s Hospital – about one new patient every three days.
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Last year, the Pediatric Hematology Oncology program had over 900 hospital admissions and over
12,000 outpatient visits (over a 50% increase from just 5 years ago). The emphasis is on familycentered, exceptional patient care and on “translational research,” where innovative therapies are
rapidly brought to the bedside.
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Dedicated facilities include clinic space and infusion areas, a 12 bed HEPA-filtered
Myelosuppression unit, and office and research laboratory space.
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25 to 30 bone marrow transplants are performed each year in Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital’s
myelosuppression unit, including highly specialized unrelated marrow transplants and cord blood
transplants.