Pediatric cancer and blood diseases: We care for your child as if they are our own

We have experts who treat everything ranging from common childhood cancers like leukemia and brain tumors to rare blood disorders like aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndrome. We also offer more than 50 clinical trials that range from multi-center, cooperative group trials to studies only available here at American Family Children’s Hospital.

Being in the hospital can be very stressful for kids and their families. At American Family Children’s Hospital, certified child life specialists create positive experiences for hospitalized children and their families.

The UW Carbone Cancer Center and American Family Children’s Hospital offer CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and other cancers. American Family Children's Hospital was one of the sites involved in testing this special immunotherapy. We also offer clinical trials to fight cancer using other types of immunotherapy, including NK cells, monoclonal antibodies and drugs that help the immune system work better.

American Family Children's Hospital in Madison, Wis., is one of the few locations in the country offering MIBG treatment for neuroblastoma, with a room dedicated to this specialized radiation treatment. We also offer many novel clinical trials for children whose cancer has recurred or has not responded well to initial treatment. Some of these therapies are not available anywhere else in the country.

You might wish to get a second opinion for a child diagnosed with cancer or a blood or bone marrow disorder. UW Health Kids Cancer Care experts offer second opinions on diagnoses and treatment plans. Call (608) 890-8070 to schedule a second opinion appointment.

The UW Health Kids Cancer Care experts develop new and exciting clinical trials based on ongoing research that results in the most effective, cutting-edge pediatric cancer treatments for our patients.

Anemia

Anemia occurs when the body has a lower number of red blood cells then is normal for your child’s age. This can happen if the bone marrow is not producing adequate numbers of red blood cells, or because the red blood cells are being destroyed after their release from the bone marrow.

• Bone marrow not making enough red blood cells: The most common cause for this type of anemia is iron deficiency, though other causes are possible. Your doctor will run blood tests to determine the cause of the anemia and then recommend appropriate treatment.

• Red blood cells are being destroyed: This type of anemia is known as hemolytic anemia, and is often caused by an antibody attaching to the red blood cells and causing them to be destroyed. However, many other causes are possible. Your doctor will run tests to determine what is causing the red blood cells to be destroyed and then recommend appropriate treatment.

Additional types of anemias and bone marrow disorders

• Acquired aplastic anemia: A condition where the bone marrow stops producing adequate numbers of white blood cells (which fight infection), red blood cells (which carry oxygen to tissue) and platelets (which prevent bleeding). The exact cause is often unknown, though the problem can be triggered by certain drugs or infection.

• Cyclic neutropenia: A rare blood condition characterized by abnormally low levels of certain white blood cells (neutrophils). Neutrophils are important to fight off infection.

• Diamond-Blackfan Anemia (DBA) syndrome

• Dykeratosis congenita

• Fanconi anemia

• Hemophilia (A and B)

• Immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP): This condition can lead to excessive bruising and bleeding, because of low levels of platelets (a component of the blood that helps form clots).

• Kostmann syndrome: A condition that occurs when there is an abnormally low number of neutrophils, a type of white cell that helps fight infection.

• Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH): This rare blood disease causes red blood cells to break apart. The surface of the blood cell is missing a protein that protects it from the body's immune system.

• Sickle cell anemia

• Schwachman-Diamond syndrome: This inherited condition affects many parts of the body, especially bone marrow, pancreas and bones. It reduces the bone marrow's production of the types of white blood cells necessary to fight off infection. It can cause the pancreas to not produce enough enzymes to help gather nutrients from food, and your child might have problems with bone formation and growth.

• Thalassemia syndromes

• Thrombocytopenia: A condition where a patient has a low blood platelet count. Blood platelets are necessary to stop bleeding by clotting blood.

• Von Willebrand disease

• Astrocytoma

• Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (ATRT): This tumor begins in the brain or spinal cord. It is a fast-growing cancerous tumor, but very rare.

• Diffuse infiltrative pontine glioma (DIPG)

• Craniopharyngioma: A rare, non-cancerous tumor found near the pituitary gland.

• Ependymoma

• Medulloblastoma

• Optic glioma: Optic nerve or pathway glioma is a slow-growing tumor in or around the nerve connecting the eye to the brain.

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)

• Acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

• Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) – CML rarely occurs in children. It is a type of cancer that starts in an early version of myeloid cells, blood cells, platelets, and most types of white blood cells. 

• Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) – JMML is a rare form of childhood leukemia. It occurs when too many stem cells become white blood stem cells known as monocytes and myelocytes. Over time these blood cells crowd out red blood cells and platelets in the bone marrow.

• Hodgkin lymphoma

• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma

This is one of the most common cancers we treat.

• Ewing sarcoma

• Osteosarcoma

• Rhabdomyosarcoma

• Ataxia-telangiectasia: Ataxia-telangiectasia is an inherited condition with progressive neurologic problems that cause difficulty walking and an increased risk of developing various cancers.

• Endocrine tumors: Endocrine tumors affect the organs that make hormones.

• Germ cell tumors: Germ cell tumors are rare and usually occur in the reproductive organs, (the testes for boys and ovaries for girls). These cells may travel to other parts of the body and cause tumors.

• Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH): HLH is a rare disorder affecting the immune system. In this condition, many activated immune cells grow and damage parts of the body like the liver, spleen, bone marrow and brain.

• Hepatoblastoma

• Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH)

• Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS): These are conditions that can occur when the blood-forming cells in the bone marrow become abnormal. This leads to low numbers of one or more types of blood cells. MDS is considered a type of cancer.

• Neurofibromatosis (types 1 and 2): Neurofibromatosis is an inherited disorder where tumors form on nerve tissue. These tumors can form anywhere in the nervous system. There are two types:

  • Type 1 usually appears in childhood and is often noticeable after birth.

  • Type 2 is less common and involves slow-growing tumors in both ears that can lead to hearing loss and balance issues. Type 2 tumors also can cause Schwannomatosis (see below)

• Retinoblastoma: Retinoblastoma is a cancer that starts in the retina, the very back part of the eye. It is the most common type of eye cancer in children.

• Schwannomatosis: Schwannomatosis usually affects people after age 20. Here tumors develop on the cranial, spinal and peripheral nerves.

• Sturge-Weber syndrome: Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS) is a neurological disorder in which a child is born with a distinctive port-wine stain on the forehead, scalp or around the eye. Problems in the capillaries near the surface of the skin cause the stain to form. It also can affect the nervous system.

• Tuberous sclerosis: Tuberous sclerosis is a rare disease that causes tumors in the brain, skin, kidneys, eyes, heart or lungs. They are usually benign (non-cancerous). The first signs of tuberous sclerosis can occur at birth.

• Vascular malformations: Vascular malformations often appear at birth and are a type of birthmark made of blood vessels that can cause functional issues.

• Von Hippel-Lindau disease: Von Hippel-Lindau disease is a rare, inherited disease that causes tumors and cysts to grow in the brain, spinal cord, kidneys, pancreas, adrenal glands and reproductive organs. The tumors are usually non-cancerous.

• Wilms tumor

Treating children with relapsed or resistant cancers is serious business. If your child has one chance, you’ll want to put your trust in a team whose reputation for innovative pediatric cancer research is unquestioned.

As part of the UW Carbone Cancer Center — Wisconsin’s only NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center — our team has played a pivotal role in advancing more effective childhood cancer treatments from the laboratory to the bedside for decades.

Because UW Health frequently offers clinical trials that might not be available elsewhere in the region, your child might be one of the first to benefit from these new approaches. Moreover, those who participate in clinical trials today pay dividends for the cancer patients of tomorrow.

During a transfusion, your child receives donor blood, which replaces the blood they have lost.

During a bone marrow transplant (also called stem cell transplantation), healthy donor stem cells are transplanted into your child’s body. A bone marrow transplant helps to rebuild your child’s blood supply and immune system.

This treatment removes excess iron from your child’s blood. We might recommend Chelation therapy if your child gets regular blood transfusions.

Chemotherapy is a type of medication treatment used to kill cancer cells.

This therapy stops your child’s immune response so their bone marrow can make blood again.

This is a treatment that uses your child’s immune system to fight cancer. CAR T-cell therapy is one type of immunotherapy offered at UW Health.

UW Health is one of the few centers in the U.S. to offer this highly targeted treatment for children with retinoblastoma. It provides 10 times as much medication to the tumor as systemic chemotherapy, using a fraction of the dose.

Your child’s care team may administer medications like antibiotics, pain-relievers and steroids throughout your child’s treatment.

This treatment uses radiation to kill cancer cells. MIBG is one type of radiation therapy offered at UW Health.

Our expert doctors might recommend surgery to remove tumors. Whenever possible, we use minimally invasive surgery. Minimally invasive surgery uses tiny incisions and tools, which minimizes pain and speeds recovery time.